JPops Drabble Shop
by J-Pop Princess
Summary: I've started writing drabbles for a weekly contest, although I doubt I will participate every week. The entries I write will end up here along with any other spare plot bunnies.
1. Control :SasukeHinata:

Hey everyone, this is my first drabble and I know you're waiting for a Stripped Bare update but I wrote this for a contest entry. I promise I'll get back to writing my chapter right away! Until then, I hope you enjoy this.

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His Toy, His Tool

She was his, and he would make sure she knew it.

He was no fool, he knew she loved Naruto. The lavender eyed heiress always had, but her bloodline limit was too precious to squander on offspring of that blonde idiot. It was Sasuke's duty to recreate the Uchiha clan, and Hinata and her byakugan would produce strong shinobi.

She had shied away from all of his seduction attempts and so he had used his Sharingan, reworking her thoughts and feelings until she believed she loved him. They were married shortly thereafter, Naruto smiling at the wedding, never knowing the Hyuuga had loved him.

He had taken her that night, rough and hard, focusing on his own pleasure. She had cried despite the jutsu he had placed on her that made her body hot and needy. While taking her from behind she had sobbed out Naruto's name, hands fisted in the sheets.

It appeared that memories of the heart were stronger than those of the mind and even the power of the Sharingan could not erase them completely.

He had been furious. She was _his _toy. _His_ tool. Throwing her onto her back he had forced her to watch him slam into her over and over, making her back arch in pleasured pain.

She would forget about everything but him and obey his every word. He was now her master and she would do well to remember it.

He impregnated her that first night, but continued to have her every night, reminding her brutally that she was his and his alone.

Their baby was due any day now, her stomach distended and round, but as soon as she returned from the hospital, he would start all over again. She would like it for she was under his control.


	2. Weak :KakashiSakura:

I bring you another drabble folks. I know it's not a Striped Bare update but it will have to do for now.

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He Had Always Managed…

She wiped away the tears when they mixed with the rain, blurring her vision and stubbornly staring at the name etched in the monument dedicated to Konoha's lost heroes.

"Sakura, we should go, you'll catch cold," Naruto said gently, understanding her pain, _sharing _her pain, but still concerned for her as well. She had been sitting here for hours, unmoving even when the rain soaked her to the skin, eyes staring vacantly as she ran her fingers over the wet granite.

Sakura hated the tears that refused to stop flowing, hated the world for taking him away. She was powerless in the face of his death and all her physical strength and medical jutsus would do nothing to being him back.

Then again, he had always managed to make her feel weak.

The very first time they had met he established that he was far superior, dangling those cursed little bells just out of reach and no matter how she tried, she couldn't even get close to him, none of them could then.

Even after years of training, she felt that she still couldn't hold a candle to him. Between his bloodline limit and vast experience, she was still no match for him unless she had the element of surprise. She had trained so hard for so long and yet she still felt inadequate when she compared herself to him. Her former sensei was simply too strong.

But as the years passed, the two of them had traveled down a path none of them could have ever predicted. After being assigned to several missions together as partners instead of a teacher and student, they gradually learned more about each other, becoming something more than acquaintances and eventually close friends. She confessed her deep thoughts and dreams to him and while he always remained secretive about his own life, he gave advice she found invaluable, even if it did come from a man whose favorite pastime was reading erotic novels.

The step after that had seemed natural. They were together all the time anyways, both lonely and hungry for another's touch. When she confessed over cups of instant ramen in her apartment that she hadn't had much experience when it came to men, he jokingly teased that he would be happy to teach her. She supposed he hadn't really expected her to take him up on the offer but when she took his hand and pulled him towards her bedroom, he hadn't resisted.

That night, he had made her feel weak all over again, but in a new and glorious way she hadn't even dreamed was possible. His fingers on her naked skin trailed fire, leaving her breathless and shaky beneath him. She had been so vulnerable, so fragile and yet, it was all right, for he had known just what to do, cradling her normally strong body in his arms as she shuddered like a leaf in the wind. She could afford to be weak when she was with him, letting him see the side of her that she hid from everyone else, for after her childhood crush had broken her heart once, she was hesitant to wear her heart on her sleeve like she once had.

He finally let her see him too, see his face that he had always kept covered and let her see him for who he really was, for the _man _he was, not the shinobi or the walking weapon. She had quickly come to see that the person he had kept hidden was even more wonderfully enigmatic and mysterious and as they passed the months together, she was constantly peeling away the emotional shroud around him, removing a layer at a time but never fully uncovering what was beneath.

She never would have believed it if someone had told her she would fall madly in love with her sensei, and he in love with her, but somehow the feelings she had for him were both empowering and disabling, a strange juxtaposition of strength and weakness. He made her feel like she was capable of anything, but at the same time, she knew she wouldn't be able to go on if he were suddenly taken away.

It was on her most recent mission that her worst fears were realized. It was supposed to be a simple mission for Sakura, Naruto and their first teacher. Their task was to rescue the daughter of a wealthy lord who was being held for ransom.

So well disguised were the enemy shinobi that they hadn't realized there were any high level ninja at all mixed in with the ranks of thugs patrolling the place. They had gotten in to the enemy base easy enough, but when it came to getting out, it seemed every exit was blocked by not just a few ninja, but dozens.

Sakura could remember all to well the horse command for Sakura to take the girl and get the hell out of there. The kunoichi hadn't wanted to leave, insisting that if they were to need her medical abilities, she wouldn't be there for him. He had shouted at her then, yelling in a passionate display that she had never seen from him. There was something in his voice that had tugged at her heart, a sincere plea for her to get herself and the target out while she still could. Naruto had made an escape route for her and she had taken it with the young girl in her arms.

She couldn't explain how, but somehow she had known that she would never see Kakashi again.

When Naruto had passed through the village gates alone several days later, Sakura already knew her lover was dead. All her strength left her, leaving her unable to even stand as she collapsed to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably into Naruto's chest at Konoha's entrance.

She remembered her friend trying to tell her how he had died through his own tears, how brave and valiant he had been when the elite shinobi enemies had teamed up on him twenty to one, how the final words he choked out through bloodied lips were to tell her he loved her, but Sakura couldn't bring herself to listen. He was gone now, her strength and support torn away in an instant, and no words spoken by anyone could ever make it better.

The funeral had been impressive for it seemed the Copy nin was respected and revered nearly as much as the Sandaime had been. Naruto was alongside her the whole service never releasing her hand as he comforted her the best he knew how, but nothing could fill the void in her now, nothing could return the strength he had given her just by being at her side every day.

She continued to train daily, to throw herself into her workouts with almost frightening intensity, increasing her physical strength until she was practically inhuman, and yet she still felt as meek as a child, weak and powerless to change anything in the world that was worth changing.

She visited the monument every day, much like he used to do, and she found it sadly ironic it was now _his_ name she traced with her fingers on the very stone he spent so much time with.

"Sakura," Naruto said again, a little firmer this time. As much as he wanted her to spent time with Kakashi in whatever way she could, the rain was freezing and they were both soaked. They needed to find somewhere drier.

Reluctantly, Sakura's hand dropped away and she stood turning to walk back the way they had come.

Her limbs felt heavy and sluggish, weighed down by her grief and despair, her heart throbbing with pain at every step she took. Where was her strength, her integrity? Her fighting spirit that had pulled her through so many hard times? They had seemed to be in short supply since he died and she hoped to god a part of herself hadn't died along with him.

As Naruto silently fell into step beside her, she wondered how a man could make her feel so helpless even after death.

Then again, he had always managed to make her feel weak.


	3. Apology :SasukeSakura:

Taking the "Man" out of Humanity

Sakura wasn't sure she heard him right. Maybe all those blows to the head she had endured over the years had affected her hearing.

"You what?" she asked, her voice breathless with disbelief as she stared wide eyed at his profile, his pale skin glowing in the moonlight as he gazed out at the quiet water flowing under the bridge.

The man across from her finally turned his attention towards her, his dark eyes against alabaster skin striking, just as they had always been, but within those inky depths was something different, something that had not been there when they were first assigned as team mates.

"I want to be with you Sakura. I've finally decided to give us a try."

She didn't know what to say and any words she might have managed to piece together would have caught in her throat as it constricted painfully. A deceptively slender and feminine hand gripped the wooden guardrail as she did her best to conceal her shock even though she knew it was futile. Even without his bloodline limit activated, he could clearly see she was surprised.

"Sasuke," she whispered.

It had been years since she had left on that mission with Naruto, Sai and Yamato to find him and bring him home, but that image of him was still fresh in her mind, burned into her retinas and reappeared ever time she closed her eyes. She knew that memory would never fade even if she wanted it to.

She had supposed he would look different after all the time they had spent apart but she hadn't expected the white robes tied with purple cord that his sinister mentor had worn, nor the stony and indifferent expression. But what had really frightened her were his eyes. They were cold and hard and emotionless, more like those of the reptiles he summoned that a human's. His featured had matured and he had grown taller, stronger, but those eyes, those eyes that had once held pain and anger but also a little hope, were cold and blank and unfeeling.

Perhaps in that moment, she had known he had changed in a way that couldn't be reversed but even if her heart knew, her mind refused to believe it. It wasn't until Sasuke had drawn his sword and held it at Naruto's throat did she realize that the person she had known before was long dead.

She had returned from the mission broken hearted, overwhelmed with more pain than she had ever felt and had finally given him up as a loss. Perhaps she could have moved on if he hadn't returned to Konoha of his own accord several years later, his clothes stained with his brother's blood and his thirst for vengeance quenched.

She had fallen to her knees and sobbed like a child when he had walked through the gates, simultaneously cursing herself for being so weak and thanking the heavens that her teammate had been guided home, but even then, she was not so naïve as to think things would go back to the way they had been before.

Sakura shifted her gaze from the fathomless eyes, unable to meet their intense gaze, looking out at the moon's reflection as it trembled on the rippling water, like how she wanted to tremble now but wouldn't.

"Why? Why after all this time?" she asked quietly, her voice so soft it almost didn't reach his ears. "You said I was just an annoyance to you back then. What made you change your mind?"

She didn't know why she was questioning this. Shouldn't she throw herself into his arms with reckless abandon, agreeing enthusiastically to be whatever he wanted her to be? She had loved him unwaveringly for years, believed in him even when the entire village had turned their backs on him, had been there for him even if he hardly gave her the time of day.

And yet, something twisted painfully in her gut, something that told her while her younger self would have gladly devoted herself to him, she was now no longer so eager to smother him with adoration. The harsh reality of his betrayal had opened her eyes in ways that nothing else could.

His dark eyes continued to pierce her, threatening to swallow her up.

"You've changed Sakura. You've become stronger than I could have imagined and now that _he_ is dead, I can see that now."

Sakura heard the hate and the rage in his voice as he spoke of his brother. It seemed it was the only emotion he could show now. Even after he had avenged the death of his clan, the hate still ran through him, as much a part of him as the blood in his veins and Sakura didn't think she or anyone else could ever purge it from him completely.

"You're strong and beautiful and a skilled kunoichi, maybe the best in Konoha, and would make a good mother to my children. You can help me rebuild my clan to what it was; perhaps make it even more powerful."

So that was it was it? He wanted her for her genes? Because she would serve his personal agenda well? She should have known he wouldn't have asked her to meet him here in the moonlight for any romantic reason, for even if the last Uchiha had just proposed her, there was no love in his voice. She wondered if he was even capable of the emotion as the dark creature he had become.

"Sasuke, I…I don't think I can," she murmured, still not daring to meet his eyes.

Even if she had wanted this at one point, she knew it wasn't what she wanted now. She had struggled and fought, pouring blood, sweat and tears into her training to become as strong as she had, and now that she was approaching her prime, she wanted to spend it in the field, serving her village and making a difference, not cooped up behind walls constantly pregnant with his children. It was selfish of him to even ask this of her, especially after what he had done.

"But isn't this what you have always wanted?" Sasuke asked, his cool voice steady and even despite her refusal. "I know how you felt about me when we were a team Sakura, and though it has taken me a while to realize it, I'm finally ready to be there for you."

His words should have been brimming with emotion, but they weren't. They were flat and cold just like every other sentence he had uttered since returning to Konoha.

Sakura felt a sudden surge of anger and she spun to face him, pink hair looking lavender in the moonlight as she bit back a bitter laugh.

"You're ready to be there for me?" she asked, her voice brittle and on the verge of breaking as she fought to keep herself calm. "Sasuke, you _betrayed_ me. You betrayed the whole village! You hurt me deeper than you'll ever knew and you almost killed Naruto who's been nothing best the very best of friends to you. How can you expect me to so easily forget that? To _forgive_ that?"

Her anger spent, she took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the cool air that smelt like the cherry blossoms blooming around them.

She stared at him with twin orbs like liquid emeralds and was surprised to find he had the humility to lower his eyes briefly as if too ashamed to look her in the face.

"I'm sorry," came his soft whisper.

Once again, Sakura thought her hearing must be faulty but he repeated himself as he raised his head and took a step towards her.

"I'm sorry. I know I hurt you and Naruto and maybe even Kakashi with what I did. I never apologized to you properly for it so I'll say it now. I'm sorry I had to hurt you, but I did what needed to be done to gain the strength to defeat my brother."

In all the years Sakura had known him, this was the first time she had ever heard the arrogant Uchiha make a sincere apology. But even if he wasn't proud of what he did, it didn't wipe out the years of pain and worry both Sakura and Naruto had experienced while he was gone.

Even if his words tugged at her heart a little, she couldn't help but notice that Sasuke wasn't sorry for what he _did_, but sorry for the consequences of his actions, and she knew that if put in the same situation, he would do it all over again.

"Apology accepted," she said softly, summoning the strength to look into those eyes, those dark, emotionless eyes. "Hearing those words from you means a lot, but it doesn't change my answer."

For a moment, there was silence that was interrupted only by the sound of running water and the breeze in the cheery trees. Sakura wasn't even breathing as she waited for the Uchiha to respond. He regarded her quietly, almost curiously, as if he had no idea who the woman in front of him was, and she supposed he didn't. They had both changed too much to be familiar to each other now.

"I see," he said at last, his voice still devoid of emotion. "Then is there someone else?"

The kunoichi tucked a stray strand of pink hair behind her ear as she shook her head.

"No, there's nobody. It's just that I don't think it will work between us Sasuke, not anymore. You can't be what I need you to be and the same goes for me."

Again he was quiet a moment, his dark hair falling into his eyes in a way that made him look mysterious, the same mysteriousness she had been drawn to all those years ago, but mystery and good looks weren't enough to make her happy, she knew that now.

It happened so fast that even her heightened reflexes didn't have time to respond as he wrapped an arm around her slender waist and tugged her to him forcefully before dipping his head to press his lips to hers in a kiss.

She gasped against him lips but didn't fight him, to shocked to do anything but stand rigid and unmoving in his arms.

Hips lips were warm and his tongue gentle yet firm as he parted her own trembling lips and began to explore her mouth, but despite the heat and life in his body and his heat beat pulsing against her own chest, the kiss lacked fire and passion as if he were just mimicking the act of intimacy, of love.

Love…so he really was incapable of it. Even in this pivotal moment as he tried to prove himself to her, he betrayed that he was indeed dead inside. She could never be his wife because he was incapable of giving her the affection she needed. She could imagine that making love to him would be just like this. All the moves would be executed perfectly and yet the act would be hollow and empty, his heated touches failing to set her skin burning.

Even now, as he kissed her, he failed to stir anything inside her. Her body was unresponsive to him, her mouth remaining still, an inactive participant in their kiss.

She felt tears welling in her eyes, overcome with sorrow at what had been stripped from her team mate. While his body had remained intact through his training with Orochimaru and the fight with Itachi, his soul had not. His humanity was gone and he was now an empty shell of a person who was suited for nothing but the life of a shinobi, a cold, cruel shinobi who could kill and slaughter unflinchingly for his heart was either frozen over, or gone all together.

Weakly, she pressed her palms to his chest and pushed him away in a silent plea for him to stop and he obeyed, releasing her from the arms that held no comfort. Sakura's head was turned to the side, unwilling to meet his gaze and Sasuke could see unshed tears glistening in the moonlight. Somewhere a frog croaked, making the only sound that shattered the silence between the two figures on the red bridge.

"Sasuke, I can't. I'm so sorry, but I don't love you anymore."

Just as she had expected, there were no desperate pleas, no outbursts, no tears but her own. He was past all that now.

She supposed that statement was something of a lie, she would always love him, just as she would always love Naruto, but she no longer had the fairytale dream of living happily ever after with him. He wasn't the Prince Charming she had thought he was.

"I see," he said again, his voice a little quieter, but lacking even the devastation of defeat, of loss.

Sakura wanted to say something more to him, perhaps offer her own apology, but her words would be meaningless since there was no broken heart to mend. Instead, she turned on her heel and walked away, leaving him alone on the bridge, a pale figure in the moonlight overshadowed by an intangible darkness.

Though it had taken all her inner strength to say so, she knew she was better off without him, and even as she finally let her tears fall, she knew she had done the right thing. As much as she wanted to be happy with him, it was no longer possible, for she needed more than what Sasuke could give her, and perhaps she always had. She was her own person with her own needs who was no longer dependant on someone else, who could stand on her own two feet and face the world, even if it was alone.

And _that_ was something she would never apologize for.


	4. End :NarutoHinata:

Hey guys, here's another short little blurb I wrote for a weekly contest. It's not dark and depressing for once. Enjoy! 

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End of Loneliness

She was sure she would wake up any moment now and realize this unimaginable bliss was only a dream, and she would once again find herself alone.

But even as she thought these things, the warm pressure of calloused fingers entwined with hers assured her that this was indeed real, and her wish had come true at last.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered against the shell of her ear, making her skin tingle and her face flush hotly in both delight and embarrassment. 

They sat quietly under the starry sky, the warm summer breeze soothing the senses but doing nothing to still her rapidly beating heart as his fingers slid from her own and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, drawing her close.

"I can't believe you were in front of me all this time and I never saw it," he said, his voice awed as his impossibly blue eyes gazed at her. "I never saw your feelings for me, but now that I have you, I'm never letting you go."

Her heart leapt to her throat, beating like the wings of a hummingbird and her pearly eyes wide as he leaned forward to brush a strand of purple-black hair from her face.

She didn't care what the clan or her father or the village thought of him. She loved him and would never leave his side. If she had to choose between the Hyuuga name and him, she picked him in an instant.

A shooting star streaked overhead but it went unnoticed in the light of the fireworks erupting in her heart as he leaned in and gently placed a kiss on her pale cheek.

"Naruto," she breathed, letting her fingers timidly trace the whiskers on his cheek.

Finally, her loneliness, her longing, had come to an end.


	5. Phobia :NarutoKyuubiSakura:

Autophobia

WARNING! This particular drabble deals with especially asult content including rape. If you no likey, please don't read and then complain later. If you're ok with reading something dark, please continue on and let me know what you think.

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Autophobia

Naruto had never known what it was like to live in fear every waking moment. Despite the seal over his navel which served as a daily reminding of what exactly was living inside of him, he had never truly feared the Kyuubi and its powers or what would happen if the evil entity somehow broke free. He had always felt in control, had always managed to separate himself from the thing lurking inside him.

Until now.

Now Naruto found it impossible to forget that the Kyuubi resided within him, even for a moment, and even though Sakura continued to insist that he and the nine-tailed fox had nothing in common except for the body they shared, Naruto couldn't be so sure. He didn't know how she managed to look him in the eye and say those words. She had been a victim of the monstrosity after all.

He supposed he had led himself down this path the moment he had first tapped into the Kyuubi's endless chakra, opening the door to the prospect of their identities merging, if only briefly. Sakura was not the first to be injured by the beast inside him. Jiraiya had almost met his death because of his pupil's inability to keep both his emotions and the Kyuubi under control, and Sakura had already suffered an injury from his tainted form once before, her arm incapacitated by one scratch, but what happened after that was so loathsome, so horrific, that Naruto felt physically sick at the mere thought of what he had done.

He couldn't stand to look at himself in the mirror now, couldn't even stand to look down at his own hands, hands that has caused so much damage, mentally, physically and emotionally, he wondered if he'd ever be able to make amends, and wondered if he was even fit to try. The villagers had been right all along. He really _was _a monster and there were times when his self loathing was so intense that he longed to be put out of his misery.

If only it had been someone else, something else, anything but _her_, but perhaps that was why the Kyuubi had chosen her, Naruto's own interest piquing the fox's interest and lust, both from blood and for flesh.

It had started innocently enough as a late afternoon training session after Sakura had finished her medical studies for the day. The training grounds were deserted and quiet and they used the space to their advantage, their sparring match bounding all over the landscape until they were far from the village as they could get, some of their fighting taking place between the trees of the surrounding forest.

By the time they were too tired to continue, the shadows had grown long and the sun had started to dip beneath the horizon and they took a break beneath the leafy boughs of a large tree, unafraid of the encroaching darkness.

It was then Sakura had turned to him and asked him about Sasuke, about what had really happened the first time he had gone to bring him home. It was a subject he seldom talked of and never gave details about, but as a part of Team 7, she felt she had to know, had to understand why Sasuke had declared all bonds with them severed when they had ventured to bring him home a second time.

Naruto had been reluctant, but with a little probing, continued anyways, recounting just what had happened that day in the Valley of the End, how the person he had considered to be closer than a brother had turned his back on him and walked away.

Every time he recalled Sasuke's cool, confident smirk and the way he had looked at him disdainfully, the familiar rage he had felt that day returned unbidden. Why hadn't he been strong enough to bring him home? Why couldn't he have done more? What was the point in being a shinobi if he was too weak to save the people he cared about?

He felt angry, helpless, disgusted at himself for failing Sasuke not once but twice. Even though he tried to remain ever hopeful about returning the young Uchiha home, the last failure at Orochimaru's base had taken its toll on his moral.

He found himself wishing more than anything to have the strength to save his friend and felt the resulting anger well up inside of him at the thought of how painfully obvious it was that he was still too weak to be of any use.

And then he felt it, just like he always did, the tempting flood of immeasurable power just beyond his reach, sealed away where it couldn't harm…and couldn't help either.

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He was there, standing in front of those endlessly tall gates that were the entrance to a part of himself he didn't even fully understand, and behind them lurked the Kyuubi, beckoning him to draw on his endless power and set him free so that he may aid in accomplishing Naruto's goals.

The blonde knew the devil when he saw it, and after seeing how that power had wounded Sakura, he had vowed to never depend on the Kyuubi again, but even now, at just the memory of his loosing battle, he felt the helplessness and anger well up inside him once more and the tempting call of the Kyuubi to break the seal and let him out.

"No," Naruto said vehemently, his form small and insignificant before the towering gates. "I don't need your power anymore. I can do this on my own!"

Red eyes glowing with menace stared back at him through the murky darkness behind the thick bars, the throaty growl practically shaking the ground beneath the blonde man's feet.

"You claim your own power is adequate, but where are the results of all your effort. Your friend who you say means so much to you, still has not returned home. It seems that little has changed since you refuse to use my power."

"Shut up!" Naruto screamed, his hands balling into fists at his sides. "What do _you _know?!"

Dark lips curled into a snarling smile, revealing teeth longer than Naruto was tall.

"I know that you are helpless to bring home one teammate and lack the courage to confess to another."

The shinobi took a step backwards as if he had been physically struck. What business was it of the Kyuubi's that he had secretly pined after his pink haired friend long after he had stopped actively pursuing her? He knew deep down that what he felt for her was more than the love of close teammates but he would never bring himself to say anything and be rejected by her again. She only had eyes for Sasuke, that much was clear.

The fox saw Naruto's shock and chuckled darkly.

"Oh yes, I know of your adoration for the female," he mocked. "I can feel every emotion in your heart, even the foolish ones. There is nothing you can keep from me. You care deeply for her and yet you're too afraid to tell her. Do you need additional power even for such a trivial thing?"

"Stop it! Leave her out of it!" Naruto growled threateningly, his body quietly trembling as his anger only grew.

"Perhaps, you are afraid that you cannot show her what a true male is, cannot protect her," the fox grinning maliciously.

"Shut up!"

"Cannot…_pleasure _her."

"I said SHUT UP!" Naruto screamed, so enraged by the Kyuubi's taunts that he didn't see the haze of read fog that was seeping out under the gate and swirling around him or feel the physical changes taking place inside of him that moments ago, he had affirmed he would never allow again.

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"Naruto!" Sakura gasped in horror as she felt the shift in his chakra, his signature becoming increasingly more powerful but more malevolent as well.

The blonde man growled, a sound that was more animal than human and held his head in his hands, shaking violently for a moment as if he were fighting an internal battle against an unseen adversary. But as she watched his fingernails lengthen into claws and his teeth distend to fangs, she knew exactly who he was fighting…and that Naruto was losing the battle.

"Hey, get a grip!" she yelled in concern, placing a hand on his shoulder and shaking him roughly, hoping to snap him back to his true form, but instead he lashed out with a clawed hand and shoved her away, his sharpened fingernails tearing a large hold in her red top right below her collar bone.

"N-Naruto," she gasped, surprised and shaken but otherwise unharmed as she lay on the ground.

His shudders seemed to have stopped and he lowered his hands from his head, but when he lifted his eyes to meet hers, she found them to be a frightening orange-red and his slim whisker marks had deepened and grown thicker. He was looking at her the way a hungry dog eyed its prey and she knew that Naruto was no longer in control of himself.

"Naruto, please, calm down," she said, trying to keep her voice gentle and get through to the man she knew was inside somewhere amid the ego of the beast.

"I'm perfectly calm Sakura," the creature said, smiling humorlessly to bear sharpened fangs that sent a chill down the kunoichi's spine.

Sakura swallowed hard, not sure how to handle this situation, but as her team mate began to advance, she picked herself up off the ground and assumed a fighting stand, preparing to defend herself if need be.

"Naruto, stop this. I don't want to hurt you," she warned, summoning chakra into her right fist.

Her words seemed to do nothing to subdue him.

"You won't," he said simply, red eyes flashing with what could have been amusement.

Praying that her punch wouldn't do more than what she could heal, she swung at him, hoping to knock him out so the Kyuubi's deadly charka would dissipate. Her fist would have connected if he had stayed still but he dodged in a flash of orange and black, slipping behind her and grabbing her wrist tightly. With one fluid move, he yanked her full forced to the ground, sending her flying onto her back amidst the moss and ferns of the forest.

The impact knocked the wind right out of her and she hadn't even caught her breath before he was upon her, straddling her hips and leering into her face.

"What's the matter Sakura-chan?" Naruto sail, his voice raspy and rougher than usual. "Can't put up a good fight when I use my true power?"

"Naruto, we both know the Kyuubi's power isn't really yours," Sakura panted, trying to force air into her lungs. "You don't need held from that monster."

Before she could react, a clawed hand shot out and grabbed a fistful of her hair, hauling her up so he was nose to nose with her.

His red eyes bored into hers and he seemed to be studying her intently and Sakura couldn't help but feel it wasn't Naruto's eyes looking at her but those of the monster sealed within him.

"Sakura, why do you keep rejecting me?"

Out of all the things Naruto could have said, that was one of the last things she had expected.

"Naruto, what do you—"

"Is it because I'm not strong enough? Not cool enough?" Naruto interrupted. "Not dark and handsome like Sasuke?"

There seemed to be genuine hurt in his voice and Sakura couldn't be sure whether she was hearing the words of her teammate or the Kyuubi.

"Naruto I—"

"You know I've always loved you, and I've never once betrayed you. Sasuke has never showed you affection or kindness and keeps walking away from both of us and yet you _still _choose him over me?"

Sakura didn't know what to say. Those ruby eyes held pain and sadness in their depths along with the anger and rage. These emotions were genuine and she had a feeling the Kyuubi hadn't produced them but was merely feeding off them, egging Naruto on into an emotional frenzy. Even if he never would have voiced these thoughts himself without the fox's prompting, they still resided in him all the same.

"I'll make you see Sakura," he growled, his words sounding more like a threat than anything else. "I'll make you feel things Sasuke could _never_ make you feel."

Without releasing his grip on her hair, Naruto crushed his mouth to hers in a smothering kiss, his tongue parting her lips forcefully and ravaging her mouth. The kunoichi squeaked in surprise and tried to wretch her mouth away but his hand in her hair held her fast.

This wasn't happening. This _couldn't _be happening! Naruto was kind and gentle and bumbling when it came to girls but his movements held none of that. They were forceful and strong and confident, proving that Naruto wasn't the one kissing her; the Kyuubi was and he was merely using Naruto's body to do so.

He plundering her mouth until her lungs were screaming. The shock had worn off and Sakura wasn't about to sit by idly while this happened. She pressed her palms to his chest and tried to shove him off, using enough power to send him flying. She couldn't damage the Kyuubi substantially without wounding her friend and so she hoped she could land a successful hit that would knock him out until she could get him back to Tsunade and they could figure out what the hell was wrong with him.

Unfortunately, she hadn't even gotten to her feet before he was back on her, pinning her arms above her head viciously in one broad hand.

"So you wanna play rough Sakura?" he asked, a malevolent grin on his lips.

"Naruto, stop this! I don't—"

Sakura found herself silenced by the sound of tearing cloth as Naruto grabbed a fistful of her red shirt and tore it away, leaving behind scarlet shreds and her bindings underneath.

She began to struggle anew, thrashing and kicking beneath him but nothing she did could throw him off.

"The more you fight, the rougher I'll be," the blonde warned, an excited glint shining in his eyes, his vertical pupils dilated to narrow slits as he watched for her reaction.

"Get the hell off me!" she yelled, not being calmed by him for a moment.

Instead of heeding her request, he dipped his head to her wrapped bosom and took the top edge of her bindings in his teeth. With one violent tug, he had ripped them away as well and Sakura cringed at how much the motion resembled a dog tearing at a chunk of meat.

Her chest was exposed to him now and his eyes roved over her hungrily in an expression she had never seen Naruto wear before. She may have been inexperienced when it came to things like this, but she knew lust when she saw it, and the emotion burning in those red eyes was exactly that in its most primal and frightening form.

"Naruto, you don't want to do this. Fight against the Kyuubi!" she cried, struggling futilely in his seemingly unbreakable grip.

He drew his eyes from her breasts to her face, studying her a moment before his face split in a demonic grin.

"Oh, you're wrong Sakura-chan," he growled. "I've been wanting to do this for as long as I can remember."

Sakura watched in horror as he lowered his head to take one of her nipples into his mouth and the kunoichi gasped at the hot, wet sensation after feeling the cool air on her skin.

"No…don't," she whimpered as he began to suck hungrily, his free hand cupping her other breast and fondling it roughly. He squeezed and kneaded the delicate flesh and Sakura couldn't help but wince every time his sharp nails scratched at her.

Naruto merely chuckled at her pitiful sounds and caught her nipple between his and tugged it hard, causing her to cry out. He let his tongue slide over the silky curve of her breasts, nipping at her with sharp teeth that left red marks on her flawless skin.

Sakura continued to fight against him, although it was becoming apparent she had little chance of escaping him. She had no idea how strong he truly was in this form but chances were that even if she did manage to break free, he would be on her again in an instant and overpower her easily.

His touches were rough, too rough to really be called caresses. His movements were hungry and primal, as if he meant to devour her, and from the way he switched breasts and bit at her nipple, it certainly seemed he would, and yet, despite his harsh treatment, Sakura could feel her body reacting to it all the same. The little pink nubs crowning her breasts had distended into hard pebbles that Naruto licked and sucked eagerly and she felt an unusual warmth pooling in her lower abdomen. Her cheeks flushed pink ay the fact that she could be aroused by such a thing but she tried to convince herself that it was only her body's natural response and it didn't necessarily mean she was enjoying this.

One clawed hand raked across her breast painfully, leaving four parallel scratches that began to ooze blood a moment later. Naruto lapped at the scarlet droplets eagerly, his warm tongue soothing the pain of the wound.

The taste of blood seemed to work the fox man into an even greater frenzy, for he began suckling and biting at her with renewed fervor, causing his prey to gasp and shudder at the sensations that were bouncing between pleasure and pain.

Sakura shut her eyes, trying to block out the image of Naruto violating her, but it did nothing to dull the feeling of his tongue rolling against her nipple or his fangs grazing the underside of her breast. She did her best to keep quiet but whimpers and murmurs kept escaping her lips and she found that the sounds she made only served to drive him on, his breath coming in ragged pants like an animal that had just run a long distance.

He sucked until her skin felt raw and only then did he mercifully pull away, his tongue slithering down to nip the taunt skin just above her shorts and medic apron.

The sound of his throaty voice made her open her eyes and she saw that her breasts were swollen and red, criss-crossed with shallow scratches and puncture wounds from his fangs that continued to slowly seep blood.

"You like what I'm doing Sakura-chan," he growled wickedly against her skin. "I can _smell_ you. You're getting wet for me."

Sakura opened her mouth to protest but the words were lost as he easily tore away the pink garment and then grabbed a handful of her shorts, his sharp claws easily ripping through the fabric.

"Naruto! _No!_" she cried, flailing anew in his grip as he tore away the last of her clothes, leaving her in nothing but her sandals and shin guards.

"So this is what you've been hiding from me Sakura-chan?" the blonde smiled, his eyes roving her naked form shamelessly and fixing on the small patch of downy pink hair between her legs. "It's rather nice."

Sakura drew back he knee in preparation to kick him but he dodged, using the hand not pinning her down to guide her leg over his shoulder and held it there, using her own momentum from the kick while he used his body weight to keep the other pinned to the ground. The new position spread her thighs and gave him a good view of the pink folds within and Naruto licked his lips as if she were the most delicious thing he had ever seen.

"You're aroused," he growled mockingly, as he lowered is nose to nuzzle the curls covering her sex before letting his fangs graze the flesh just above them, making the muscles in her lower abdomen jump wildly.

"No, you're wrong!" Sakura cried, frantically wriggling as she felt his tongue circle her navel, trailing a strange heat over her skin that made her body tingle.

"Don't lie to me." Naruto rasped, giving her tummy a nip that nearly drew blood. "You smell like a bitch in heat."

Those were words she knew Naruto would never use, and it was even more clear that the Kyuubi was in control of this situation. She wondered if Naruto was aware of what was happening at all.

Before she had a chance to ponder the thought further, she felt his breath ghost over her most intimate place and she squealed at the sensation, green eyes going wide as she watched his head nestle between her legs.

"No…don't…not there!" she pleaded.

The shinobi paid her no mind and instead let his tongue slide over moist pink folds, finding her musky taste and scent to be intoxicating. One lick sent Sakura squirming and he immediately buried her face in her, thrusting his tongue into her tight opening that had never before been touched like this.

She couldn't help but throw her head back in surprise, her back arching of its own accord as a cry left her lips. His claws were digging into her thigh and wrist where he held her but all that was muted by what he was doing with his tongue. The alien heat that had been creeping into her abdomen suddenly flared into a molten fire, frightening her with its intensity and the fact that it was the Kyuubi was making her feel it.

Sakura was responding, just like he knew she would and her little cries and choked moans were making his cock ache in his pants. He twisted and swirled his tongue in her, lapping up her juices which were starting to flow until she was no longer struggling in attempts to escape, but writhing under him in fearful pleasure as he penetrated her with his tongue.

Confident resistance was beyond her capabilities now, he released her hands and slung her other leg over his shoulder before leaning forward and bending her almost double as his hands came under her to cup her rear and support her hips. The new position put her own pelvis much closer to her face and as her eyes opened in surprise, she found she could watch ever detail of her teammate spreading her folding once more and burring her tongue inside her.

This time her moan was inarguably one of pleasure as he lapped at her violently, his teeth scraping her every now and then which sent a sharp sensation through her that she couldn't exactly identify as pleasurable or painful. Her freed hands found purchase in his hair, gripping at the golden strands blindly as she tried to catch her breath a clear her head, a task made impossible by what he was doing to her. She was mortified that she was enjoying this, humiliated that the beast that had devastated her village so long ago was making her act so wanton. Inside she was loathing it, hating it, the tears forming at the corners of her eyes and the whimpering pleas for him to stop proof of it but her untouched body reacted to both the pleasure and pain, making her muscles so weak and her thoughts so unclear, that even all her strength and chakra control was useless against the sexual onslaught.

She watched the man she had thought was her friend, red, wild eyes glazed over with lust as he ravaged her. She didn't blame him, or Naruto himself had nothing to do with this, but nonetheless, she wondered if she would ever be able to trust him again after he lost control like this.

And this his tongue did something sinful inside of her and eyes rolled back a the sensation, cutting her thought short.

Naruto growled heatedly against her flesh, his licking and sucking making wet noises against her skin as he tasted her body frantically. He was so aroused by the pheromones she was unconsciously secreting and her taste and smell that he had abandoned reason long ago, acting on his most primal instincts to make her convulse and shiver under her. She was so responsive, growing wetter for him by the second, filling the air with scents of lust and sex and fear. It was the fear that he savored, the smell that told him he had control over this usually powerful woman. Naruto had never craved power, but now, under the Kyuubi's influence, he found he was drunk on it.

Sakura's body jolted as his teeth scraped her again, and then her whole body shook madly as she felt him abandon thrusting his tongue into her and hungrily engulfed the throbbing button above her entrance. She practically wailed, hands tightening painfully in his hair and hips bucking feverishly against his mouth as something burst inside her. Even as she fell apart beneath him, he didn't slow down for a moment, sucking at her so hard that it crossed into pain and still her orgasm didn't cease, inner muscles contracting and spasming until the feeling was nearly excruciating and Sakura was sobbing, tears cutting wet paths down her cheeks.

Naruto was painfully aroused by the way her thighs were trembling against his shoulders and the shrill scream of her release. He was so hard that it hurt and he knew he couldn't wait anymore.

Tearing his mouth away from her, he rolled her onto her stomach and jerked her hips up into the air while he slid the zipper of his orange pants down, allowing his rigid member to spring free.

She had barely come down from her high before she felt something stiff and hot at her entrance. Propping herself up on wobbly hands, she looked over her shoulder to find Naruto kneeling behind her, his swollen cock in his hand as he guided it to her opening. His expression was one of pure lust and she was frightened by the intensity of it, how his eyes looked at her, how he smiled cruelly and bared pointed canines.

"No, don't do this," she panted breathlessly, trying to crawl away but he easily grabbed her by the hips and dragged her back with an animalistic growl. His claws left fresh scratches but she hardly felt them through the fear and adrenaline.

Naruto was going to rape her. Oh god…

She felt the tip of him find its mark and shuddered as her body opened up to the mushroom-shaped head. She couldn't tell if the pulsing sensation inside her was his member or her own blood pumping through her.

"Naruto…" she whimpered, praying her voice would get through to him but her plea was futile as he thrust his hips forward in one hard stroke, burying himself to the hilt in her virgin passage, extracting a pained scream as her body struggled to adjust to the intrusion.

The shinobi didn't even pause, pulling back to push forward again with equal intensity, uttering a guttural growl as her insides immediately clenched around him, suctioning him back inside when he tried to withdraw. She was tight and unbelievably hot and he could think of nothing else but pounding into her again and again, her sobs and cries only making him throb more inside her quivering body.

Sakura's arms gave out, unable to hold herself up against the violent thrusts and she collapsed, her cheek dragging along the cool earth as her hands fisted in the ground, uprooting handfuls of moss. She could feel blood seeping from where his claws held her at the waist, the nails sinking into her flesh as he pulled her back against him to meet every push of his hips. He was still stretching her but the pain had ebbed away a little, replaced by stinging pleasure every time he slammed into her with a bone jarring thrust.

Tears flowed down her cheeks as she sobbed into the dirt, her cries mixing with he sounds of flesh slapping against flesh. This was supposed to be just a simple training session. How had things escalated into this so quickly? How had Naruto transformed so completely?

A clawed hand left her hip to rake painfully down her back, tearing bloody gashes in her skin which Naruto immediately began to lick at, the coppery taste as arousing as much as the feminine nectar he has been drinking before had. His chin was smeared with a mixture of her blood and residual juices and his jacket and pants were spotted with red as well. Her body was covered with scratches and gashes, and though none of the were life threatening, her skin was slick with her own blood and sweat as he pounded into her harder, concerned only with reaching his own release.

She was beautiful, absolutely beautiful, all covered in blood and tears, radiating fear and desire. Even her pretty pink hair was matted with blood and he found himself on the edge just by realizing that the woman who could shatter boulders with one punch, was bent over before him and submitting helplessly. She was crying for him, trembling for him, and as he licked up the blood from her back, savoring it as if it were a fine wine, he felt a deep satisfaction that despite the fact that she had always loved Sasuke, it was Naruto who had become her first lover.

Feeling himself reach the brink, he hauled her up onto her knees, still thrusting into her wildly. She felt his breath on the back of her neck and tried to squirm away but froze when she felt his fangs graze the size of her throat.

His hands gripped her hips as he pushed into her once more before bliss overtook him but he remained alert enough to let his primal instincts take over. With one swift bite, he pierced the skin of her neck, marking her as his with the dual puncture wounds.

Sakura let out a frightened cry and for a moment, she was sure he was going to tear her throat out, but instead, he shivered against her violently for a moment, flooding her womb with his seed before extracting his teeth.

She wasn't sure what to expect now and jumped when his whispered words ghosted over the nape of her neck.

"See, I told you I would show you Sakura."

And with that, red eyes faded back to blue before heavy lids drifted shut and Naruto sunk to the ground. The Kyuubi's lust sated, it had relinquished control, leaving the shinobi blissfully unconscious.

For a moment, Sakura just looked at him in silence. His face was so serene despite the blood all over it, so totally out of place with what had just occurred. How could he be so peaceful when he had just done something so devastating?

Her breathing finally slowed and the adrenaline began to wear off and she was suddenly conscious of the searing pain covering her body. She had so many cuts that it was hard to tell exactly where they were under the blood that covered her. Hesitantly, she let her eyes drift down her form to assess the damage. Her breasts were now a network of bloody streaks and her stomach hadn't faired much better. She didn't even want to imagine what her back looked like.

But as her eyes looked lower to evaluate her legs, she noticed a sticky trail of white that cut through the mass of red, a trail that led from swollen, bruised vaginal lips.

The image was both revolting and overwhelming, increasing the impact ten fold of what had just happened.

Having no more strength to hold back, she collapsed to the ground, her whole body wracked with sobs as she cried hysterically, the pain not physical this time but mental and emotional and she knew such scars were not so easy to heal.

XXXXX

Naruto awoke feeling strangely relaxed, more so that he had been in quite some time. He realized from the moss beneath him that he had been sleeping in the woods. Strange, he didn't remember falling asleep out here.

His senses told him something was wrong and he looked around. The sigh that greeted him made his eyes grow wide in horror. There sat Sakura, her skin rusty brown with dried blood and some of the larger wounds were still seeping scarlet. She was naked, her clothes laying inn tatters around her ad her face was streaked with tears. What was the most disturbing however was her eyes, her vacant, unseeing eyes. She was alive and breathing but her eyes seemed glazed, dull, lacking the spark of life that was usually in their green depths.

"Sakura!" he cried, running to her side, stripping off his jacket and wrapping it around her shoulders. "What happened Sakura? Who did this to you?"

The kunoichi flinched at his touch, her body tense like she was going to run but she remained still. Slowly, her eyes moved to meet his face as he crouched beside her.

"You really don't remember?" she whispered brokenly.

Naruto was confused. Nothing was making any sense. They were just outside the training grounds and were still in Fire Country. Nothing should have attacked them on their home turf, at least nothing Sakura couldn't take care of, and why was she expecting him to know what happened? The last thing he remembered was talking with her about Sasuke.

Sakura saw his bewildered look and knew it was no good. Naruto had no idea what he had done. Then again, perhaps that was for the better. The memories would almost certainly plague him if he had retained them.

"Naruto," she said softly. "These scratches…they were…"

She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. Instead she bared a pale arm from under the jacket and took his hand, fighting the urge to run. She was scared of him even now, even though she shouldn't be. Naruto hadn't hurt her. Naruto was her friend, but the thing _inside _him…

The blonde's eyes widened as he saw that the scratches in her skin matched the space between his fingers exactly. Did that mean that _he_ had…

He jerked his hand away as if he had been burned, and risked looking at his hand a little closer. His stomach knotted in nausea when he saw there was blood under his fingernails. He suddenly was aware of so much more. There was blood on his clothes, red drops and smears that had dried to brown and as his hand gingerly touched his face, he realized his whole chin was crusted with the same substance.

No, this couldn't be…how did he…

"The Kyuubi," Sakura whispered, her voice trembling as she fought to stay calm. "Naruto, the Kyuubi…he took over you."

The rising nausea made him dizzy and weak. He had sworn never to use the demon fox's powers again for the very reason that when he did, it often resulted in someone he cared about getting hurt. Somehow, the monster inside him had still taken control, still managed to inflict pain.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice hardly louder than a murmur. He didn't want to know the answer, didn't want to know why Sakura was naked and covered in blood, but deep down, her already knew, he just needed to hear it from her mouth.

"Naruto, you…we…the Kyuubi forced himself on me."

The blonde shinobi closed his eyes as an unbearable pain pieced his heart. Rape was one of the worst things a man could do to a woman and he had done it to Sakura, the very woman he cherished and respected. He risked opening his eyes and looked down to see the front of his pants was spotted red with streaks of a dried white substance. It didn't matter whether it belonged to himself or to her. It was still proof of the crime he had committed.

He could no longer fight down the overwhelming feeling of sickness and doubled over on the grass, retching as he emptied the contents of his stomach. Tears streaked down his cheeks, cutting through the blood and the dirt as the realization dawned on him that he indeed was no better than a monster. He could try and change, to put on a good face, but that didn't change what was lurking inside of him. Try as he might, he would never shake the demon within.

Somewhere behind him, he heard Sakura begin to cry.

XXXXX

Sakura didn't utter a word of what had happened to anyone. She had healed herself in the woods and bathed in a nearby stream to wash away the blood and Naruto had done the same. She had promptly teleported home since she had nothing but Naruto's jacket to wear and wasn't about to walk through the streets of Konoha in a shirt covered in her own blood.

Naruto had wanted to see her home safely and perhaps talk this out, to apologize, to find a way to redeem himself, but she understandably wanted little to do with him, that night and the following weeks after that. Their relationship had fundamentally changed. She didn't trust him, didn't want to be around him. She was always jumpy and nervous in his presence, even if it was nearly imperceptible, Naruto noticed and was overwhelmed with grief every time she flinched at his touch or avoided his gaze.

Life continued as usual but every day was a curse rather than a gift for the usual sunny shinobi. Every day he wondered if this would be the day the Kyuubi would break free once more and harm somebody else. When he looked at his own hands, he only thought of the damage they could do when controlled by another. He was afraid of his of his own strength and abilities, wondering if they could be turned against the people he loved.

Looking in the mirror evoked nightmares. His own face plagued him as he wondered just when his blue eyes would once again turn red.

Being the Hokage was out of the question now and even if people didn't know the truth yet, it was only a matter of time before they did.

How could he hope to protect others when he was terrified of himself?


	6. Gravity :KakashiSakura:

"Kakashi, I told you, I can't do this," Sakura whispered harshly as the music began and dozens of other couples began to gravitate towards the center of the large room

Ok everyone. He's the drabble for week six. I really like how this one turned out. I hope you all do too. It's sweet and nice in contrast to last week's M-rated scariness. Enjoy!

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Falling

"Kakashi, I told you, I can't do this," Sakura whispered harshly as the music began and dozens of other couples began to gravitate towards the center of the large room.

Kakashi smiled at her and the effect was quite striking considering he wasn't wearing his mask.

"Now what kind of noble would you be if you didn't dance at least once? Just leave everything to me. I promise I'm a good lead."

Kakashi offered her a gloved hand and she accepted it nervously, eyes darting around to the other couples that were already gliding gracefully over the dance floor, their movements in time to the music of the string quartet seated in the corner.

She had been hesitant to accept this mission to pose as nobility in the first place, especially since it dealt more with verbalizing political affairs as opposed to using any medical skills. An ambassador could have done the job just as well if their client hadn't been so insistent on the fact that if the general refused their proposal, he was to wind up dead from a "terrible accident." She had finally accepted because the mission pay was good and Kakashi was to be her partner, after all, she trusted the man completely and figured that if he was on the job, things wouldn't be all that difficult.

She had expected the stuffy upper class and boring social events but nobody had said anything to her about _dancing_, but now, here she was, in a pair of horribly impractical but elegant high heeled shoes and a dress that probably cost more than her final paycheck for this mission, accepting the hand of her former sensei to perform a dance she had no idea how to do.

Kakashi could sense the tension in her body as he linked her elbow through his and steered her towards the dance floor.

"Relax," he leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Just follow my lead and everything will be fine."

Sakura nodded silently as he took her hand in his while the other one wrapped securely around her waist, pressing her closer to him and she was suddenly aware of his gloved fingers pressing to the bare skin of her back. He smiled at her again and the kunoichi decided he really was handsome now that his face was exposed since he very well couldn't wear his mask to a benefit ball without looking suspicious. He did however wear a silken black eye patch over his Sharingan eye although it made him look more debonair and dashing than anything else. Already she had noticed a few of the ladies look at him with approval and at her with jealousy.

"Now, step back with your right foot," he said and Sakura complied, looking down at their feet.

"Don't look down, look at me," Kakashi ordered and Sakura snapped her eyes back to his face as he started a slowly, letting her get used to the down-up-up rhythm of their steps.

Kakashi was right, he was a good lead, and once Sakura had the pattern, she found it was nearly effortless to keep up with him and before she knew it, they were gliding around the room with everyone else, her crimson dress flowing behind her as he spun her easily before locking her back in his embrace.

"I didn't know you could dance," Sakura giggled, finding herself having a wonderful time.

Kakashi smirked knowingly.

"They taught us all sorts of things in ANBU. You never know what you'll find useful on a mission."

Sakura was oblivious to everything but her teachers face, studying it now that she had the chance. He looked younger than she imagined he'd be and far more good looking too, although the sight of him in a crisp tuxedo probably helped his image a bit. The way he controlled her steps with ease was attractive even though she usually liked to be in control of everything she did and she found her heart racing a little, probably not simply because of the excursion of their dancing either.

"Did I tell you that you look wonderful tonight?" he said as the song ended and he twirled her before lowering her into a deep dip reminiscent of every corny chick flick she had adored as a girl.

"No," she said with a timid smile as her cheeks began to warm. "You didn't."

"Well you do," he smiled, righting her again as the next waltz began. "You look fantastic in that dress. It's a pity you don't have the occasion to wear things like it more often."

By now, Sakura was definitely blushing at his words as subtle pushes and pulls of his hands guided her into another set of steps. She had been giddy when she had first been presented with the scarlet dress she was to wear for the occasion. The front was fairly modest, dipping into a V just below the collar bone so as to show enough skin to be alluring but not trashy. The back however was practically nonexistent save for a thin crisscross of red ribbon over the middle of her back. The dress dipped to the base of her spine where it gave way to silken layers of deep red that flared out like petals of a flower when she spun. Combined with black gloved that ended at mid bicep and her hair style which consisted of her pink tresses being swept up into an elaborate twist of curls, she was quite striking and Kakashi had noticed that he wasn't the only one getting appreciative looks. Many of the men had let their eyes follow her longer than what was polite.

Sakura ducked her head, pressing her face to his chest so he wouldn't see the blush that was nearly as dark as her dress. She was greeted with his spicy and masculine scent that filled her nostrils and instantly made her chest flutter in a strange and wonderful way as their feet kept moving effortlessly, sending them flying over the floor as if they were impervious to gravity.

She felt the hand on her back press her in a little closer and felt the warmth of his breath against her ear.

You're doing well Sakura, I think you're a natural."

Sakura lifted her head and smiled and in that moment, she forgot about the mission and their target and the hundreds of other people in the elaborate ballroom. She didn't want this moment to end because it felt so good to be the center of somebody's world, even if it was just for a little while and she couldn't deny that something was tugging at her that hadn't been there before, a strange attraction that seemed be pulling her towards him despite her better judgment.

She doubted it was just his dance skills that had impressed her. Kakashi Hatake was a perfect gentleman, a Prince Charming, although she had to assume it was all just an act for their current assignment, but even so, it was having a strange affect on her, pulling her towards him like a mysterious gravity and he was the center in which she orbited. Even though she knew it was improbable, she couldn't help but wonder if he felt the same.

The song came to an end and the people around them applauded but the two of them stayed locked in their embrace, green eyes gazing into his single black one for a moment that stretched on and on before Kakashi finally slid his hand from her back to clap for the musicians along with the other guests.

Sakura found herself breathless and a little disoriented now that she was aware of all the people she had blocked out. Her back felt cool and tingled slightly and she missed the warmth of his hand that had so recently touched her.

"I'm going to go look for him," Kakashi said as the musicians got up to take their break and the crowd on the floor began to disperse.

Sakura knew he was talking about their target and nodded. This was a mission after all, they weren't here on holiday, but as she watched him melt into the crowd, that strange pull in her chest persisted and she found herself wanted to go after him, to be in his arms once more. This force tying her to him was unfamiliar and strange and she found herself wary and giddy all at once.

She had been enjoying this mission, talking to her teacher one on one as they traveled here, teasing him about his choice of reading material and him gently chastising her that there was more to life than medical journals and textbooks. He made her smile, made her laugh, and they way he had been looking at her when they had danced made her feel special in a way she hadn't felt in ages, like she was important, like she was the only thing worth looking at.

There was another tug on her heart, stronger this time and Sakura was afraid to give the feeling a name.

If this was gravity pulling her to him, then that meant she was falling and she could stop herself no more than she could after a trip or stumble. She was falling.

She was falling for Kakashi.


	7. Erase :NarutoSakura:

Temporary

Another week, another drabble. This one is short and bittersweet.

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Temporary

The pain was always there, a hollow aching in her very soul. Ever since he left, it felt like a piece of her had been missing. She wanted, _needed_ something to fill the hole left in her and erase the pain.

She was hesitant to turn to her teammate, for even though he was just as devastated as she, she didn't wanted to hurt him more by crushing him with false hopes of a future relationship. This was just to ease the grief, to make them both forget for a while.

She was clear in what she wanted, looking down at the ground with uncharacteristic shyness while making her request. She needed human touch, to be near someone, and she knew the blonde shinobi could give that to her. She explained it would be temporary but he accepted anyway, either eager for anything she offered him or because he too was overcome by the same consuming pain of losing the person that had made them whole.

At first he was a little clumsy and unsure as he lowered her onto the cool sheets, exploring her skin hesitantly as if he were afraid touching her too hard would earn him a black eye or she would simply kick him out of her apartment, but with encouragement he soon grew bolder, finding the places that made her hot and flushed, places she hadn't even known existed.

In those precious moments, she didn't think about Sasuke, just their skin and sweat and pleasure as he made love to her like he had always dreamed of doing. But then, as they lay exhausted and panting, shaking fingers entwined, his face resurfaced, haunting her. She could never really banish the pain, only mask it with something that wasn't real.

Some things just couldn't be erased.


	8. Bloom :SaiSakura:

A/N: Hanami is an activity in Japan where people will go out with friends and family in the spring to watch the Sakura trees in bloom

A/N: Hanami is an activity in Japan where people will go out with friends and family in the spring to watch the Sakura trees in bloom. They usually bring picnic lunches and perhaps sake while enjoying the nice weather and beautiful flowers.

Hanami

The petals were falling around him like pink snow, floating on the breeze until they came to rest on the grass and his blanket and his sketchpad. The presence of the silky blossoms didn't deter his drawing in the least. In fact, he rather enjoyed the scene of tall trees bursting with cotton candy color, their petals falling in showers all around him with every breath of wind.

A bird landed on a branch above him, trilling sweetly with a flurry of feathers and knocked one of the cherry blossoms loose. Sai watched it drift towards the ground and held out his hand to catch it, cradling the delicate flower in his palm before leaning back against the tree's trunk comfortably, sketch pad and charcoal in his lap.

He had lived in Konoha all his life, although many missions had kept him away for long periods of time, but thanks to his intensive training in ROOT, he had never really gotten the chance to sit down and enjoy the sakura blossoms when they bloomed every spring. Instead he had simply admired them in passing while everyone else brought their picnic baskets and blankets and spent time with their friends and family, laughing under bouquets of brilliant pink petals as they celebrated hanami.

He had never really minded being denied this in the past, but he supposed that was because even if he had had the luxury to gaze at trees for hours, he had no friends or family to share the experience with. All he had ever had was his position in ROOT and his sketch books and until he had met the members of team Kakashi, that had been enough.

But after meeting Sakura and Naruto and seeing the fierce loyalty they had towards their third team member even after all that he had done, he couldn't help but want to know more about that kind of bond and experience what friendship was like first hand.

So he had requested to be a permanent part of the team and had enjoyed it ever since, absorbing all the knowledge about life that he could from the loudmouth blond and violent female. Naruto was undoubtedly an idiot, but the kindest, most determined idiot he had ever known, and Sakura, though a little frightening, was incredibly strong and skilled as a medic and he admired her greatly for it.

In fact, he had been admiring her for all sorts of reasons as of late.

He stared at the flower resting in his palm and noted that it the same delicate shade of pink as her hair and he wondered if the strands on her head would feel as soft as the silky petals. Her silvery laugh floated to him on the wind and he looked up to find her giggling with her female friend that worked in the local flower shop. Yama…something or other. Despite the fact that he had given the blonde the name "Beautiful" while he affectionately called Sakura "Ugly" his actual thoughts were quite the opposite. He had always found the pink haired kunoichi to be intriguing, but the more he got to know her, the more he found his interest in her going beyond simple curiosity. She really was quite lovely although he doubted she knew that about herself and somehow that made her all the more appealing. She had so many qualities about her, both physical and otherwise that he found attractive, and yet as his feelings grew with every passing day, he found himself struggling to give the rising emotions a name considering he had never really felt much of anything during his entire career in ROOT. It was difficult to identify emotions when he had never had any before.

He continued to look at Sakura, knowing he was far enough away from her that she wouldn't accuse him of staring. She was sitting with her flower shop friend and the two other members of Team Ten as well as Naruto on the expansive blanket they had brought. Between the two teams they had brought a great deal of food although most of it seemed to have already been consumed by the largest of the group, a fact that the female blonde seemed to dislike since she was constantly shrieking at him to stop eating everything in sight.

Sakura just laughed and smiled, looking just as pretty as her blossoming namesake, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear absently.

Sai looked down at his sketch. It was only half finished but already many of the details in it were quite clear, her radiant smile, her wind tousled hair, even her red hitai-ate which was slightly battered and scratched were all captured by his hand. He had sketched her dozens of times already without her knowledge and he had memorized her features to the point where he could draw them without even seeing her face. He figured that if she ever caught him drawing her she would probably punch him like she had done on their first mission all that time ago so he kept all of his sketches safely hidden away, but that didn't stop him from admiring her from afar.

The sun's warm rays felt good on his cheek and he felt his eyes growing heavy as drowsiness set in. Despite his deeply ingrained training to constantly be on the alert, he allowed his guard to drop as he drifted off, lulled by the sweet scent of cherry blossoms that smelled suspiciously similar to the shampoo a certain pink haired team mate of his tended to use.

He awoke what seemed like only a moment later to find a figure looming over him. One glance at her rose colored hair revealed her identity.

"Hey," she said softly, squatting down until she was eye level with him. "Were you planning on sleeping out here all day?"

He ran a hand through cropped black locks and gave her a smile. There had been a time when his smiles held no humor and served as a simple façade for manipulating people but now he was beginning to learn how to let his true emotions show through.

"I just dozed off for a while," he said, looking down to find that the lone flower was still sitting in his hand.

"Were you drawing?" she asked, noting the pad of paper in his lap.

He nodded, focusing on the flecks of amber that danced in her green eyes.

"Lemme see!"

She snatched his pad away before he could protest and Sai held his breath, wincing slightly as he braced himself for the impact of her fist once she realized the subject of his work. But when the attack never came, he risked opening his eyes to find her staring at the paper in her hands, her expression one of surprise and confusion, but not anger.

"Sai," she breathed, tracing her fingers over the paper. "This is…how long…why would you…?"

"I like drawing beautiful things," he answered simply, hoping his answer wouldn't earn him the punch that had so far been delayed. Instead her lips parted in a surprised gasp and her wide eyes shifted to meet his.

"W-What did you say?"

The artist glanced down at the flower in his hand and then back at her before leaning forward and tucking the short stem into her hair behind her ear.

"I said you're beautiful…Ugly."

He risked using the nickname that never failed to get him a beating but this time, she raised her hand to tentatively touch the flower in her hair rather than deliver a painful blow. She looked pleased at his words, a slight smile on her lips and a rosy blush to her cheeks and he took the chance to make his escape, prying his sketchpad from her shocked fingers before she could retaliate.

By the time she had recovered from his surprising words, he was out of sight, well on his way back to his studio apartment on the other side of town, but even in the city streets, the smell of cherry blossoms still lingered.

He couldn't be sure how Sakura would act next time she saw him, whether it be with a smile or her fist, but wither way, he had a strange sense of elation at being able to make her smile. Even if she punched it for him later, seeing her in that moment was better than seeing a thousand blossoms on a thousand trees, for in his mind she was the prettiest bloom of them all.


	9. Holy :ShikamaruAsumaIno:

Here is the drabble for this week. The prompt is "Holy".

* * *

Beyond the Clouds

Shikamaru had never been a religious man.

Many shinobi weren't since it was hard to believe there was an omnipotent being watching over them that allowed such horrible things to happen in the world.

He had been raised to rely on nobody but himself and the occasional closely trusted team mate. People in his line of work couldn't afford to hold their breath and wait for miracles.

But a recent encounter with a certain religious fanatic had sent the gears of his analytical mind turning. Was their really someone who created this world and all the people in it? Who saw all the suffering and death but allowed it anyways? If there was a God, then was their a heaven? And if there was a heaven, was that were his beloved sensei was at this very moment?

Shikamaru grit his teeth in anger and frustration at his own helplessness to bring back the man that had taught him so much. He lay on his back the beneath the warm rays of the sun, watching shifting clouds pass by, but now his favorite activity held no joy. Even though he dealt with the loss differently than his sobbing team mates, he was devastated by the loss of their captain.

The man responsible for his death had been a lunatic, raving incoherently about rituals and prayers, forming a sick and twisted rendition of what Shikamaru had always pictured religious faith to be. The silver haired Akatsuki was more a follower of the devil than any god Shikamaru had ever heard of, but that didn't change the fact that Azuma was gone.

A wisp of white floated across the backdrop of blue above him and Shikamaru wondered for the hundredth time that day what lay beyond it. Was his teacher watching him right now, taking a deep drag off the cigarette in his hand like he always used to? Or had he simply ceased to exist, his soul gone as if it had ever existed?

Shikamaru closed his eyes, knowing he had stumbled onto a subject that was far too complex for him to wrap his brilliant mind around.

He opened them a moment later when he heard approaching footsteps and a minute later his blond haired team mate plopped down beside him.

"Cloud gazing again?" she asked quietly and he gave a short "hmm" of affirmation.

She said nothing but lay down beside him, an action that was unusual for her considering she was always giving him a hard time for being such a bum while watching something as boring as clouds.

She stared up at the sky, silent beside him for a long time before finally echoing the question he had been pondering all day.

"Do you think Azuma is up there somewhere?"

"I don't know," he answerd truthfully his eyes remaining fixed on the fluffy white puffs.

"Do you think there's a God?" she whispered, and Shikamaru could tell by her voice that she was on the verge of crying.

"I believe that to survive, I can't depend on anyone but me. I have to solve my problems alone," he responded, even though it didn't really answer her question.

"That's not true," she said, sitting up and leaning over him, her tear streaked face blocking out his view of the sky. "You have Chouji and me to come to. You'll never have to be alone."

Shikamaru gazed into aquamarine eyes that reminded him of the sky reflected in a pool of water, lucid and pure.

He allowed Ino to take his hand and squeezed it back gently.

"You're right," he said. "I suppose we aren't really alone."


	10. Lapse :SasukeSakura:

He didn't know why it continued to burn even after Orochimaru was long dead

Burn

He didn't know why it continued to burn even after Orochimaru was long dead. He had killed his brother and returned to Konoha, attempting to rebuild his clan and get his life back together, but the curse seal would never let him forget the past.

At its worst, Sasuke found himself sometimes slipping back into old patterns from when he was training under the snake sennin, making him act in ways he didn't always want to. The heat on his shoulder made him aggressive, usually happening while fighting, or when he was with her.

Making love to her would sometimes trigger a reaction, the stimulus and lowering of his guard when he was caressing her naked skin allowing a power out that he normally repressed.

It made him want to dominate her, to force her to submit and suddenly he found himself needing to hear her recognize his position as master with trembling lips.

If she was on top, she was pinned under him in moments, if she was already on her back, he would thrust into her harder, almost animalisticly until he could see the fear in her green eyes even as her shuddering breath came in heady moans. She could struggle all she wanted, he liked it when she did, pink hair flying as she tried to get away from the darker version of himself, but she never succeeded and it usually ended in her sobbing out his name in ecstasy as he ruthlessly brought her to her pinnacle.

When it was all over, the burning would fade, leaving him to cradle her and whisper apologies. She always forgave him. She accepted every part of him, but Sasuke couldn't help but wonder what would happen if he one day couldn't return from the darkness he sometimes slipped into.


	11. Finite :GaiKakashi:

The following is a bit of utter silliness

The following is a bit of utter silliness. You have been warned.

The Beauty of Youth

XXXXX

Youth did not last forever.

That was a fact anyone could attest to, and yet it never ceased to amaze Maito Gai how underappreciated the tender years of life were. Every day he saw the beauty of the fleeting moments all around him, the young people of his village living their lives and enjoying the splendor of their fledgling years.

However, most of these moments seemed to go unnoticed by civilians and shinobi alike, and that included the unenthusiastic man sitting next to him at Konoha's most popular bar.

"I'm telling you Kakashi, you should have seen it," the green clad man gushed. "Lee summoned every bit of strength he had into his fist and punched the man square in the jaw. The sheer power of it sent him flying, even without chakra enhancement. It's amazing what someone can do in the prime of their youth isn't it?"

Kakashi was looking into the swirling contents of his alcoholic drink disinterestedly. The Copy nin didn't have the heart to tell his rival that even gennin fresh out of the academy could send a simple bandit flying with a weak punch. Instead he just nodded at the appropriate places as the taijutsu master continued on.

"You certainly have a lively squad don't you?" Gai chuckled, pointing a finger at his friend. "That Sakura has more spirit than any other kunoichi I've seen. She's even more fiery than Ten Ten. I bet she's a handful, especially when paired with Naruto."

"Mmmhmm," Kakashi mumbled. "Spirit" was one way of putting it. He personally thought that if she had any more extra spirit or strength for that matter, Naruto would have been dead a long time ago.

"Youth is such a beautiful thing, so inspirational yet fleeting. Don't you long for the days when we were in the spring time of our lives? Those were the days weren't they?"

The silver haired jounin didn't other mentioning that some of the most horrible experiences he had ever had happened during this so called spring time including the loss of his entire squad and seeing Gai completely naked in the men's locker room for the first time. Gai had hit puberty early and had grown copious amounts of hair in places where most people his age were still smooth. Thankfully, like youth, that particular encounter had also been a short one.

"Tell you what, why don't we have another contest, just like in the old days. We could spar or see who can make it to the training grounds the fastest. The loser has to run two hundred laps around the village. That should get the old heart pumping shouldn't it?"

Gai was practically glowing with barely contained enthusiasm and Kakashi always took that as a bad sign. Couldn't he think of a competition that required less effort? Like who could finish the latest Icha Icha novel the fastest? Speaking of which, the book was practically burning a hole in his back pocket and he longed to slip away and thumb the pages at his leisure, slipping into an alternate world of stealth and seduction.

But that clearly was not going to happen as long as Gai was pressuring him.

"How about who can go the longest without talking?" he drawled, his lack of gusto lost on the thick browed man.

"Excellent! You're on!" Gai smiled, giving him a thumbs up and a smile that displayed a double row of sparkling teeth. "The contest starts…now!"

"Hello boys, can I get you anything else?" the bartended asked, eyeing their drinks that were almost completely gone.

"No, we're fine thank you," he replied to the pretty woman without thinking before clapping a hand over his mouth.

"Looks like I'm one ahead of you now," Kakashi said as he stood up and stretched leisurely, tallying the points of their previous contests in his head. "I guess I'll be heading home now."

As Gai watched his friend head for the door, a smile spread over his features.

"Just you wait Kakashi, I'll be the victor next time!"

His rival raised a hand in a silent farewell without turning around before slipping out of sight.

Despite his loss, Gai couldn't help but feel elated, vowing to grow even stronger after finishing the required two hundred laps around the village.

Youth was just a glimpse. It was temporary, finite, but with old friends and fresh faces to mentor, he felt as if he would never grow old.


	12. Dance :KibaSakura:

Sakura sipped her orange soda idly and sighed

This fic is sort of the dame flavor as Stripped Bare. A lot of the imagery is the same I think. I've been wanting to write this pairing for some time now and finally did it but it wasn't originally supposed to be a lemon. However, my perverse thoughts refused to remain unwritten so be prepared for some smut here people. If you don't like that kind of thing, abandon ship while you still can.

Instinct

Sakura sipped her orange soda idly and sighed. She didn't know why she had let Ino talk her into coming to a club. The combination of loud music, sweaty bodies and scantily clad women made it place she's rather not be. Sakura could think of a dozen other ways she could be spending her time right now and all of them were much more productive than sitting alone in a vinyl booth trying not to go deaf while Ino was well on her way to getting drunk while hanging all over every man she found even remotely good looking.

That was odd. Last she recalled, Ino had announced that were going dancing, and so far, she hadn't left her seat since she arrived, taking it upon herself to be the official purse watcher while her blonde friend manipulated men into emptying their wallets for her.

Sakura scanned the crowd, looking for her friend in question. Through the blinking lights and the haze, she found her, cuddling up to one of the young shinobi who had recently joined ANBU. That figured. It was common knowledge that paychecks were large in the special ops unit and Ino had so graciously decided to relieve him of some of it.

Even though the kunoichi didn't approve of her friends antics, she couldn't help but be a little jealous. The blonde looked dazzling tonight in a purple fishnet top with only a black bra beneath and a black pleated skirt so short that Sakura suspected that if she bent over, any guy looking at her would be treated to a glimpse of her panties. The pink haired woman personally found the outfit a bit trashy but men seemed drawn to her and why shouldn't they be? Ino was all lips and hips, curvy in just the right places and was currently showing her tones legs and belly shamelessly. Secretly, Sakura wished she could be so bold, laughing carelessly and having no fears to opening up around new people. Ino knew how to have fun, how to relax. The most relaxed Sakura ever got was staying home for the night to treat herself to a bubble bath and the latest _Medical Digest_. It was a no brainer that Sakura was a far more accomplished kunoichi and medic because of her diligence but at the same time it was obvious her studious nature had taken its toll on her social life. She didn't feel comfortable in places like this. She was fiery and passionate when it came to personal ideology and short tempered and powerful on the battlefield. But when it came to social events, Sakura Hurano was best described as a wallflower with little inclination to change.

She glanced down at her own outfit, a simple black tank top that only showed a hint of cleavage and a barrowed denim skirt that Ino had insisted she wear when a search through her closet had proved futile in the way of clubbing clothes. The hem was fashionably frayed and a burst of silvery sequins adorned the front but the garment was far too short for Sakura to feel comfortable in, even though her friend had told her over and over that she looked fabulous.

She didn't feel very fabulous, not when in shoes with a measly half inch heel while the girls around her were strutting their stuff in sexy stilettos, and not when she was drinking a drink better suited for a child when everyone else nursed exotic looking cocktails.

She looked over the crowd again, searching for someone she knew. She had seen a few familiar faces that had come to her for medical treatment but most of their names escaped her at the moment. Everyone here was older than her Rookie 9 generation and she didn't associated with many people outside of the hospital.

A hollow, slurping sound indicated she had finished her second drink and she now had nothing else to occupy herself with.

Ino may hate her for it later, but Sakura was going home. She didn't need a place like this to remind her how pathetic her social life was.

She stood and made her way to the door, pushing her way through the crowd. Bodies pressed in on her from every side and it took some maneuvering to get the far side of the club. The door way was finally in sight when she felt a hand on her arm. Ordinarily, surprising her like that would have resulted in her breaking the offending hand as knee jerk shinobi reflexes took over, but she had been in close proximity with people all evening and so she calmly turned to see who was touching her and was greeted with a toothy smile. A smile that contained…fangs?

"I thought that was you," Kiba grinned, his smile warming her immediately. "I spotted your hair from across the room."

Sakura smiled back. It was a pity he hadn't found her sooner when she was all alone and sucking down artificial orange carbonation. Their daily routines rarely put them in the other's path so it would have been nice to catch up.

"You here with the team?" she asked lightly, glancing towards the door. Quiet and fresh air were almost within her reach.

"Naw, are you kidding?" the dog ninja chuckled warmly. "Shino's a deadbeat and Hinata would faint in a place like this. I just came to have a few drinks and to chill. How about you?"

"Ino dragged me here," Sakura said with a roll of her eyes. "I was just leaving actually."

Kiba seemed disappointed and when she tried to edge closer to the door he pulled her back.

"So soon? The night is just starting. Here, let me buy you a drink."

The kunoichi as about to protest and politely excuse herself regardless but he was already tugging her after him toward the bar and she found herself following, rather than cause a scene or have to yell at him over the pounding music.

The crowd only got denser near the bar so Kiba steered her towards the booth she had originally been sitting in which miraculously had not yet been occupied by anyone else.

"What do you want to drink?"

"Um…orange soda?" she said sheepishly, knowing that probably wasn't what he had had in mind when he said "drink."

She wasn't surprised when he arched an eyebrow at her and a smirk formed on his lips.

"Soda? No, I think you need something a little harder than that. Be right back."

He was off toward the bar before she could say otherwise and she settled back in the booth with a dejected sigh, wondering when she had become so adept at letting people walk all over her. She searched the crowd for Ino again but she was nowhere to be seen. Chances were she was either making out in a corner somewhere, in the bathroom, passed out or had accepted an initiation from one of her many admirers to go home with them. How Ino wasn't already the mother of five, Sakura would never know.

Kiba returned with a white drink for himself and something that looked orangish for her.

"Here, it's a screwdriver," he said, setting down the drink in front of her before taking a seat.

He immediately kicked back and raised his glass to his lips as he watched her take a tentative sip.

Well, it tasted orangy, only it burned like hell and Sakura swallowed with a grimace. She realized he had been watching her make funny faces and laughed.

"What _is_ this?" she giggled, risking another taste.

"Orange juice and vodka," he answered. "Drink it down, it's good for you."

"I doubt that," she answered, feeling the burning liquid slide down her throat.

Kiba snickered, showing off pearly white fangs again.

"Don't believe everything you read in those text books of yours. A little booze now and then can be better than any medicine."

Now that they were seated, Sakura was able to look the shinobi over closely. His outfit was quite different from what he usually wore. The heavy black jacket was gone and in its place was a form fitting tank top that could have been dark brown or black. The black pants he wore were tight and both garments showed off his defined musculature. As attractive as his body was, Sakura was unfazed. She saw perfect specimens of the male body on a regular basis at the hospital.

His face however was much more intriguing. The family tattoos imprinted on his clear skin looked purplish under the club's shifting lights and his brown hair was delightfully disheveled as usual. His dark eyes were watching her with interest but what really caught her attention was that smile of his, accented by pointed canine teeth. Nobody had a smile like that except Naruto in Kyuubi form and he could hardly be considered attractive when on a homicidal rampage. She had seen Kiba in passing ever since they had been in the academy together but she had missed the transition he had made from boy to man. It was funny how they all changed as they grew up. She only wished she had done a little more changing. She still barely filled out her A-cup bras.

"And what would I need medicine for?" she asked, responding to his earlier remark, propping her elbow on the table in front of her and resting her chin in her hand.

Kiba's wolfish grin widened.

"For having a giant stick up your ass."

If Sakura had been drinking her drink at the moment, she probably would have spit it all over him. Instead, she was left sputtering, too shocked at his boldness to respond with biting words or an equally painful punch.

"Don't deny it. You know it's true," Kiba laughed, apparently having no sense of self-preservation at all. "You hide behind those hospital walls all day and stay at home at night. The only time anybody sees you is when they get hurt."

Sakura opened her mouth to argue but found she had nothing to say to that.

"I'm glad you're here. You could use a night out like this," he added between large swigs of his white Russian. "And I happen to know another cure for your condition."

"Oh really? And what would that be Doctor Kiba?" Sakura said irritably, not bothering to hide the sarcasm in her voice now that she had recovered from his previous jab.

Kiba set down his drink and stood abruptly, holding out his hand to her.

"Dancing."

Sakura looked at his outstretched hand and then his face blankly.

"I don't dance," she said shortly.

"I know," he grinned. "Because it's fun and you don't do anything fun, but we're going to change that. It will be good for you."

Sakura wondered just when he had become the authority on what was or wasn't good for her and just continued to look at him irritably.

"I don't dance," she repeated.

Seeing she wasn't going to give in so easily he leaned forward so he could talk quieter without having to speak over the music.

"Come on Sakura," he persuaded, his voice warm and inviting as he searched her jade eyes with his own darker ones. "There's no need to be scared."

The kunoichi crossed her arms defiantly, making it clear she wasn't going to accept his invitation.

"I'm not scared," she huffed. "I just…"

"You just…?" he prompted.

"I…don't know how," Sakura finished lamely, turning her head away.

It was true. She had never really had the occasion to dance with all her training and studies taking up all her time, and the few times she had tried she felt awkward and silly so she had given up on the whole thing. She was sure that Kiba would laugh at her now but instead his hand found hers, tugging it away from its crossed position.

"Anybody can dance," he said firmly. "It's like breathing. It's natural. Just let your instincts take over and you'll be fine."

Sakura was about to tell him that she _had_ no instincts when it came to this kind of thing, but she was already following after him to the crowded dance floor.

He sure was good at making her do things she didn't want to do. If Kiba every decided to be a ladykiller, women everywhere would be in serious trouble.

Once they were suitably immersed in the sea of dancing bodies, the Dog Nin released her wrist and turned to face her.

"All right Sakura, show me what you've got."

She thought she had made it clear that she didn't have anything but he didn't seem to care as he began to move to the pulsating beat. He made it look so easy, his body finding the rhythm instantly. She on the other hand felt awkward and out of place as she made a vain attempt to humor him. She moved stiffly with the music, feeling like a fool as she tried to coordinate her arms and legs in some semblance of dance.

Kiba was smiling. He was laughing at her! Did he drag her out here and humiliate her just so he could be entertained? Sakura's patience was wearing dangerously thin and she was ready to turn on her heel and leave him without another word when he stepped in closer.

"You're thinking too much," he said. "I've seen you spar with people and you're the most graceful thing that ever lived, but that's because you trust your instincts. Do the same now."

Sakura didn't know what he was talking about. Dancing and fighting were two different things. There was no enemy to fight, no weapons to deflect. Why would she need instincts to dance?

He clearly picked up on her confused look because he stopped dancing and reached out to her.

"Here, I'll show you."

Sakura quickly found herself pressed against him, her back flush against his chest and his breath stirring the hairs at the back of her neck.

"Kiba…" she began, squirming to get away, embarrassed and a little uncomfortable with their position.

"Chill out, just trust me," he growled, his lips moving so close to her ear that she could feel the warmth of his breath with every word. His hands came to rest gently on her hips and she stiffened, every ounce of her wanting to take the offensive and knock the man behind her into next week. She never let anybody get this close to her.

"Relax," he murmured. "You're much too tense to dance."

That was easier said than done, but Sakura forced her muscles to slacken and lowered her guard slightly, knowing he would feel the change against him.

"Good," he said. "Now, move how I move."

The hands on her hips guided her as he began to move his pelvis back and forth behind her to the beat. The pressure of his fingers kept them in sync and Sakura was suddenly feeling a little unsure about the way Kiba was moving behind her. Their pelvises were swinging back and forth in unison, staying in time with the music and though Sakura was moving with ease in a way that would have previously been hard for her, she couldn't help but feel like this whole thing was a little too…intimate.

"There you go," he breathed before she could think about running away from him. "See? It's not so hard."

The kunoichi maintained the established rhythm even after his hands left her hips and moved to entwine with her own fingers, taking them from where they hung awkwardly in front of her to stretch them straight over her head. He let his hands disengage from her fingers and slid his palms down her arms until he came to rest on her shoulders lightly. Sakura, who wasn't about to reach toward the ceiling all night, let her arms bend and loop loosely around Kiba's neck. She still wasn't sure about this but it somehow seemed to be getting easier. She could keep the beat now. The heavy base rumbling through her, making it nearly impossible to move any other way except in time with the steady throb and she wondered why she always had a hard time finding the rhythm when it seemed so obvious with Kiba.

"Good. Let your instincts lead," he growled against her ear and Sakura was suddenly aware of his body heat radiating against her. His hands were on her sides now, large fingers splaying over her narrow waist and urging her to move in ways that she had never explored.

She was a little unsure, but for the first time that night, she was beginning to enjoy herself a bit. The situation was strange and yet she found moving this way to be oddly liberating and soon forgot that she had come with Ino at all for the only thing she was focused on was Kiba.

With the vibrations of the bass rippling through her, she concentrated on relaxing and letting go. It seemed odd that she was letting this happen so easily for moments ago she had been so opposed to this but Kiba was a person she trusted and it was becoming more and more apparent that he was right. Maybe a drink and some dancing _were_ doing her some good. It felt nice to not worry about anything but the sound of the music encompassing them and the slide of his hands over her sides. His touches simply guided her body in a series of movements. There was no promise behind his caresses, no desire for more, but somehow, she couldn't help but notice sensual undertones in what they were doing.

Kiba chuckled in her ear and she was about to ask him what was so fun when suddenly she was spinning away from him before returning, this time face him and she brought her hands up to brace against his chest in surprise.

"See? You can dance," Kiba smiled, lowering his head to speak against her ear.

Sakura rolled her eyes.

"But not very well."

Kiba's dark eyes looked down into hers as his hands found purchase once again on her hips and Sakura realized he had grown quite handsome somewhere along the line.

"Don't bring yourself down," he chided. "Just move. That's all that matters."

When she still looked skeptical, he wrapped his fingers gently around a slender wrist and guided it over his shoulder were it rested at the back of his neck. The current song blended into the next and the beat shifted to a slower tempo. Kiba's body adjusted accordingly and Sakura found she was able to follow him. Her hips kept time as his hand slid down her back and Sakura couldn't help but enjoy herself. It was nice to have a little human contact aside from holding the hands of sick patients or poking and prodding others during examinations. Kiba's touch was harmless and unassuming and so she let him run his hands over the back and sides of her black tank top.

"I don't think I told you how nice you look tonight," Kiba murmured, looking down at her with a sly smile.

"Thanks, it wasn't my choice," Sakura sighed.

"Ino?" he laughed, brushing a slightly sweaty wisp of pink hair away from her face.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"I ran into her earlier and she told me. Besides, that skirt doesn't seem like something you would normally wear, even though it makes your legs look fantastic."

Sakura narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Are you hitting on me?" she said sternly.

As nice as it was to be admired, she wouldn't tolerate cheesy pick up lines and empty compliments.

"That depends," he laughed. "Are you going to hit me for it?"

His good humor was contagious and Sakura found herself smiling in spite of herself.

"No, I suppose I'll let you get away with it, but just for tonight."

Kiba cocked his head and if he had had dog ears, Sakura would have sword they would have perked up.

"Oh really? What else are you going to let me get away with?"

"Don't push your luck," she frowned and Kiba laughed again, surprising her by wrapping her in a hug and nuzzling her hair with his nose.

"I'm glad I ran into you tonight. I'm having a lot of fun."

Sakura couldn't help but agree as he spun her out again.

The music changed and so did Kiba's movement. The pulse was lower, darker, and Kiba mirrored that in how he danced. His hands strayed to her hips once more and urged her to move with him but she gasped when his hands slipped over her rear and pressed her close to him.

She could feel his pelvis moving against hers rhythmically in a steady beat and for the first time she realized how similar the motion was to another act. Now his advice about using his instincts made sense. Kiba's whole clan was driven by a primal animal instinct so it made sense that when he danced, he was tapping into it even then.

"Kiba?" to said uncertainly, feeling the shift in the mood between them.

"Hmm?" he rasped against her ear. The hot air washing over her made a shiver run down her spine and she nearly squealed when the hand on her ass squeezed a little.

Although she was already sweaty from dancing, she felt her internal temperature spike as their bodies rubbed against one another. She wasn't sure what she was trying to tell Kiba but their dancing had definitely changed and she wasn't sure if she liked it or not.

His hands dipped lower to the edge of her skirt to brush against the back of her legs and for one moment, Sakura thought he was going to slide them underneath the material. But then the hands were gone and back on her waist and Kiba had a sheepish grin on his face.

"Sorry, I got kind of carried away."

For some odd reason, Sakura was a little disappointed that he had moved his hands because having them rest on her bare skin had felt quite good. She realized she had enjoyed him grabbing her ass and quickly ducked her head against his chest before he had the chance to see the blush warming her cheeks.

"Sakura? What is it?" Kiba asked, wondering why she was so shy all of a sudden when his sensitive nose picked a new scent out of hundreds of others. It was sharp and musky and positively delicious.

And it was coming from Sakura.

It was still faint but it was definitely there. Apparently his slip up had aroused her just a little. Kiba wasn't sure what to do. Sakura was practically untouchable. She never let anybody close to her like this at least from what he could see and he was pretty sure the only action she ever got were her own fingers, assuming she was even that kind of girl. Maybe she could use a dose of a third kind of medicine for her stick-up-the-ass condition, one he hadn't previously mentioned in order to keep her from murdering him on the spot.

Experimentally, he ran his hand over her ass again and she shivered almost imperceptibly, face still buried in his chest. Slyly, he took a step to the side, forcing her to follow him and spread her legs. He slipped his leg between her parted thighs and continued moving his hips to the beat, knowing full well that every motion was dragging his thigh over her center.

Sakura gasped and looked up at him with wide eyes. She was about to say something but he just pressed a finger to her lips gently to silence her while the other returned to her ass, coaxing her hips to grind with him.

Sakura would have almost certainly knocked him senseless if it didn't feel so damned good. The pleasant friction again her tender center was rapidly increasing the heat within her and something was coiling in the pit of her stomach like a spring being slowly compressed. She felt her panties grow damp and her blush deepened. Oh god, he must think she was some sort of slut. She ducked her head again, unable to look at him.

He heard her whimper against him and detected her scent growing thick and needy. She was shyly moving her hips in time with the beat, rubbing sensuously against his leg but to anyone else, it appeared they were still simply dancing.

She smelled amazing and was growing responsive, shivering as his hand caressed her neck and back. He could feel her wetness begin to soak through his pants and wanted to groan. She must be drenched judging by the heady aroma enveloping her and he found himself fiercely wanting to haul her off to a bathroom stall and do something about the bulge growing in his pants.

"Sakura," he whispered to her. "Are you ok?"

She nodded but didn't lift her head.

Gently, he entwined his fingers in her hair and pulled, forcing her to look at him and he felt his stomach clench at her flushed face and parted lips. She was panting heavily but not because of their dancing, and her green eyes were heavy lidded and clouded with need.

He had never seen her look so beautiful. He never had the desire to screw her senseless as he did now either.

But he wouldn't do that, not now, not so soon with a good girl like Sakura, but he knew she needed something more than just his thigh to grind on. He wouldn't leave her hanging.

"Sakura," he repeated, his voice low and raspy but still audible over the music.

"I…I'm hot," she practically whimpered. "Maybe I should go."

She brought her hands to his chest like she was going to push him away but he wouldn't let her slip from him so easily.

A predatory smirk formed on his lips.

"You don't really want to go do you? Your instincts are telling you to stay."

It was true. Ever cell in her body wanted her to stay with him, to keep feeling his hard body against her and that wonderful friction over her womanhood.

She didn't say anything but nodded shyly and Kiba chuckled.

"Don't be shy. I'll take care of you," he reassured, letting the hand not on her ass slide between their bodies as he removed his thigh. She whined at the loss but jade eyes widened as she felt his fingers brush over the soaked material of her panties.

"Is this ok?" he breathed down to her as his thumb stroked over her, tracing her slit.

Her lips parted in a silent cry as she shivered, the muscles of her womb contracting sharply at the contact, forcing that coiled spring in her to wind tighter.

"But…here? All these people…"

"I promise nobody will even notice. Just keep pretending like you're dancing."

It was true, everyone around them seemed totally caught up in their own world, but still, Sakura had never been touched this intimately in a public place.

"But—"

"Shh. I have a feeling it's been a long time since you had one. You need one right now don't you."

Sakura didn't answer, too embarrassed to say it had been months since her last orgasm, but his finger rubbing maddening circles over her clit erased all thought and her hands fisted in his shirt desperately.

Kiba watched her heatedly as he felt the hard ball of tissue under his finger throb even through the fabric of her panties. She was completely soaked and her smell was overwhelming. He knew if anyone around them had a nose half as sensitive as he, they would pick up on her desire too but at the moment, Kiba didn't care. He was too caught up with rubbing her in ways that made her shiver and squirm against him, but very soon he grew tired of the fabric barrier separating them.

He slipped his finger under her panties a fraction of an inch and felt her tense. He met her lust filled gaze and whispered, "Is this ok?"

She nodded breathlessly but Kiba wasn't convinced.

"Sakura, are you _sure_?"

"Yes, just do it already!" she moaned and Kiba felt his cock twitch with his pants at the need in her voice.

Without wasting any more time, he eased his finger under her panties and straight into her molten core, groaning aloud at how incredibly wet she was. She was blazing hot and her inner muscles gripped him instantly and fluttered around him, making him imagine how exquisite she would feel if he had her in his bed, naked and spread wide for him.

"Wow…Sakura…" he murmured as he started to pull his finger out only to have her muscles suction him back inside. "You feel fucking amazing. You want this bad don't you?"

She didn't respond, just titled her hips forward in a silent plea for him to get on with it and he complied, building a stead rhythm that matched the beat throbbing through them. Sakura began to buck in time, sheathing his finger within her deeply on every other beat, but her thrusting hips could have easily been mistaken for a couple simply grinding to the music. It was her face that gave her away.

She was moaning softly so the music would cover up her sounds of pleasure, but her parted lips and eyes glazed with lust told Kiba just how much she was enjoying this.

He slid especially deep within her and let his thumb tease the swollen bundle of nerves above her opening and was immediately rewards with her crying out softly and clenching around him fiercely.

"You like that?" he growled, even though he already knew she did and continued to rub circles around her clit while stroking deep within her.

She was so wet he could feel drops of her moisture running down his hand but he wasn't about to stop, not when her scent was so overwhelming and her look of ecstasy so divine. The beat of the next song was faster and he matched the tempo, speeding up his pistoning fingers and making her whole body tremble against him.

"Kiba," she moaned, her voice raising an octave as she contracted tighter around him.

Her legs were shaking and she would be in danger of sinking to the floor soon when she could no longer hold herself up. Deftly, he pushed his finger in as deep as it would go and crooked it back toward himself as if he were beckoning her as his thumb continued to dance over clit.

Sakura managed to keep from screaming but her mouth fell open and her eyes drifted shut as she finally blew apart, the coil within her snapping and springing free.

Her breath was stolen away as feminine muscles contracted rhythmically, flexing along his finger as hot moisture leaked from her, running down her legs to leave sticky trails in their wake.

Kiba watched her with pride and fascination. She looked so damned gorgeous when she came and it was a pity that pretty face was most often seen by the infirmed when he was perfectly willing to spend time with her whenever she was free.

He had a nearly unbearable urge to dip his head and taste those parted pink lips but that would draw attention to them and besides, he wasn't sure if she would appreciate it. Instead, he just held her close, supporting her weight with an arm around her waist when her own legs gave out like he knew they would and stroked her back soothingly as she came down from her high.

When her eyes at last fluttered open, she smiled dreamily at him in a way only complete satisfaction could produce.

"Wow…" was all she could manage.

"Wow indeed," he smiled back, slipping his finger free from her blazing core and bringing it up to his face to examine. The digit was glistening with her juices and smelled overwhelmingly like Sakura. He couldn't resist the temptation and slipped it into his mouth, sucking it clean of her sweet nectar and loving how the act made her shy away in embarrassment. Her taste was amazing and he longed for more but he obviously couldn't drink his fill here. Even though he had promised himself he would take things no farther than bringing her to a single climax, he longed to have her in his bed and take his time with every part of the lovely medic.

"Sakura," he began, his voice even rougher thanks to his own desire. "If you're not busy tonight, there's more where that came from if you're interested."

Sakura's smile was abruptly wiped away and she stared hard at him, noticing how his eyes reflected the many colored lights shifting over the crowd. He was quite striking and undoubtedly handsome. He was skilled with his hands and probably other body parts too and she wondered what he would do to her if they moved to a location where he could make full use of them.

Then again, she had never been a one night stand kind of woman. In fact, she had never had one before and she wasn't sure if it was a good idea to start now with a man that could quite possibly end up on a mission with her some day.

But god, she wanted it!

"I…well, I wasn't planning for this to happen," she stuttered lamely. "I'm not like this, not really, and I don't want you to think…"

"I don't think you're a slut if that's what you're afraid of," Kiba said, swaying with her gently to the music as he held her. "I just want to have fun with you. We don't have to make it complicated. We can just…"

"Use our instincts?" Sakura finished for him with a smile.

"Yeah," he grinned, flashing her that canine smile once again.

"Ok," Sakura agreed, deciding for once in her life to have a little fun even if it meant doing something that might be wrong and a little naughty. "Lead the way."

Kiba didn't need to be told twice as he grabbed her hand and made a bee line for the exit and she laughed at his eagerness, loving the way it felt to be desired.

Neither of them noticed the blonde sitting at one of the booths, her mouth agape after what she had just witnessed, her empty martini glass dangling from her fingers. She never would have guessed that Sakura had the guts to go home with anyone tonight, let alone the youngest member of the Inuzuka clan. Then again, after his performance on the dance floor, Ino was sure Kiba could have his pick of pretty much anyone after proving how talented his fingers were. She had never seen Sakura make a face like _that _before.

With renewed determination, she headed toward the bar to see if she could coax another man into her buying her a drink. If she chose carefully, maybe Sakura wouldn't be the only one getting pleasured tonight.


	13. Paint :DeidaraSasori:

Hello again. I bring you week #13's drabble written for the narutocontest community over at LiveJournal. This week's theme is "paint".

Art Critic

Although he had never touched a paintbrush, Deidara considered himself an artist, and a damn good one at that. In fact, he believed his many works rivaled even the masterpieces of many great and famous painters.

Unfortunately, there was no way to prove that, for his creations were brief, fleeting, carried away on the wind until not even the smoke and the ashes remained.

He constantly argued with his insufferable partner over what it meant to create a true masterpiece, although they could never agree. It was obvious that the best art was the kind you could only witness for a brief moment, the kind that was unique and one of a kind and would never again be recreated, not even in a thousand years. A snowflake or a flash of lightning across the sky were some of nature's greatest works.

But his foolish partner believed that art should be valued by how well it was able to withstand the tests of time. Giant mountains and winding rivers he claimed were the true masterpieces, and of course, his own wooden body, no longer needing veins filled with blood or lungs filled with air. Deidara personally thought he was no better than a child's doll.

No, his art had life, breath. He painted the sky with fire and smoke in a blazing display that was only visible a moment before it faded away forever. Art was shifting, changing, evolving and never constant.

The cloaked man let a clay bird fly free from his black nailed fingers and watched it soar high before it exploded into shards of brilliant light.

Art wasn't meant for museums where was kept beneath glass like a mummified corpse in a tomb. Art was life, pure and simple.

Art was a bang.


	14. Wit is Educated Insolence :Konohamaru:

Hey everyone, I bring you another drabble inspired by this quote:

"Wit is educated insolence." -Aristotle

* * *

Konohamaru had always been able to get away with more than the average kid

Konohamaru had always been able to get away with more than the average kid.

His numerous relatives of high status meant that few were brave enough to discipline him and Ebisu was unable to keep him under his thumb most of the time.

In short, he was a brat, and what was worse was that he was an _intelligent _brat.

Sure he didn't always seem like the brightest crayon in the box, especially since he spent much of his time idolizing and impersonating Naruto who was hardly a genius himself, but under all the goofy smiles and rowdy behavior was a sharp mind, made even more dangerous by the fact that everyone underestimated him.

He wanted so badly to be a qualified shinobi, one who would earn the praise and recognition of those around him like Naruto managed to do. It seemed like only yesterday the two of them had been playing hide-and-seek, him trying to blend into the wooden fences with his masterful plan of holding up a similarly patterned sheet to cover himself. It would have worked too if he had managed to get the lines on his sheet running the same way as the lines on the fence.

Naruto had taut him the art of the Sexy jutsu and later, the Harem jutsu, a skill he now exploited freely to cause trouble, and he had even taken it a step further to create the Sai-and-Sasuke-Naked-and-Making-Out-in-Front-of-Sakura jutsu, a memory that still amused him to no end.

But he couldn't help but feel a little lonely now that his mentor and friend was away from Konoha more often than he was in it, leaving him to face his years at the ninja academy and training with Ebisu alone.

Konohamaru knew it was Naruto's duty to go on missions, and longed for the days when he too would be doing more than chasing missing cats and pulling weeds. Yet he couldn't help feeling a tiny bit jealous and abandoned. Naruto had been _his_ friend when the noisy blonde had been shunned by everyone else. Now he was accepted by everyone, and while that was good for Naruto, Konohamaru no longer had a monopoly of the Kyuubi container's time.

He wanted to be special like Naruto, to be strong and brave, to be a hero, but so far, the most he had done was be the first in his squad to run to the top of the tree during chakra exercises.

With his grandfather gone, it seemed nobody paid him much attention anymore except his tutor, and Ebisu was more interested in barking orders than listening to what he had to say. His uncle was busy with his own team and Naruto was never around. It wasn't long before Konohamaru was feeling starved for any attention at all, even if it was the negative kind.

And so, he followed in his friend's footsteps, playing pranks that had all the villagers shaking their heads, saying how dangerously alike he was to the Uzumaki boy.

For all their banter, Konohamaru was seldom disciplined unless Ebisu caught him, and even then, it was seldom more than a stern talking to and a particularly rigorous day of training. Ironically enough, the strength and knowledge Konohamaru received from his tutor only equipped him with the tools to cause more chaos. Now that he could mold his chakra, he had spent several hours lying along the ceiling of the changing room of the woman's bath house and this time, the sheet he had pulled around himself _did_ hide him from view, at least for a while until someone happened to look up and see a tuft of his dark hair sticking out from underneath.

Konohamaru had never heard someone scream so loud in his whole life.

But by then he had already collected plenty of information to aid the progression of his Sexy jutsu.

He continued to grow, each day a step closer to when he would finally be able to take a C or even a B ranked mission and leave the village the way Naruto had. However, each day also brought with it a new opportunity to make trouble and he seldom let the chance pass him by.

His actions often had the Godaime rubbing her temples in irritation as Ebisu adjusted his dark glasses and scratched his head sheepishly, apologizing profusely for his student's antics.

As much as she wanted to pound some sense into the brat, she managed to refrain, sighing as the two of them left her office. It was probably only a phase. Naruto had been the same way when they had first met but he had more heart than any other person she knew.

Konohamura possessed that same wonderful attribute, but with it came a sharp intelligence that made him even more problematic. She saw how he quickly learned by example and then applied the knowledge to other things. It was both admirable and honestly, a little frightening.

"I suppose it can't be helped," she would say offhandedly to her assistant as she brought in another mountain of paperwork to be signed. "Wit is simply educated insolence after all."


	15. Rebirth :Ino:

Hello once again. Yes, I know, it's not a Stripped Bare update. In fact, I haven't even started the newest chapter for that story. :flinches: Please don't hurt me. I'm enjoying my summer break, but in the meantime, here's another drabble.

XXXXX

No Going Back

She spotted her target the second he walked into the room. Even cleaned up he was a perfect match to the photo she had recieved prior to the mission.

She herself was dressed nicer than normal, foregoing the usual purple skirt and top for a strappy black number that hugged her body as if she had been poured into it. She kept her long blond hair in its traditional ponytail, knowing that it looked good on her as well as keeping the pale strands out of her way as she eyed the man from across the room. He was handsome she supposed and probably in his mid thirties, but he had already become quite the accomplished shinobi, appearing in many bingo books for pissing off the wrong people, people like the ones that had hired her to kill him.

When Tsunade had offered her the A-ranked mission, she had accepted without hesitation, not even when told that the man was a notorious womanizer and exploiting that would be the easiest way to get to him. There was a time when seducing men only to kill them would have made her sqeamish, but those days were long gone. Something had changed within her that could never be undone on the day she watched her sensei die. He had been killed in cold blood by an Akatsuki psycopath, a monster that made every other enemy she had ever faced look like a second rate thug. She could close her eyes and still see the killer's face, those unusual violet eyes glinting with madness as he spewed religeous nonsence like a man out of his mind.

She had loved Asuma as most students grew to love their teachers. He had been her mentor and maybe even her friend and she certainly hadn't been ready for him to leave this world, to leave her alone. Shika and Chouji had changed as well, but she had been affected more deeply than they could ever know. No longer was she carefree, no longer was she the sunny girl who worked part time in her parent's flowershop. Since that day, she realized just how incredibly stupid she had always been, how naive and sheltered. There was no place for her in a world where a man could be killed so ruthlessly and if she wanted to survive, she would have to toughen up.

And toughen up she did.

She had asked for training to become an assassin in addition to her medical studies, refusing to never again be powerless as someone she cared about was killed in front of her. At first, Tsunade had refused but Ino didn't relent, living up to her reputation for being incredibly pig headed. At last she was paired with Anko who seemed all too happy to show her all the ways to destroy the parts of the body she had only recently learned so much about. The training was intensive and at times, brutal, further hardening the exterior of the fair haired kunoichi as well as hardening her heart.

She still hung out with her friends. still chatted, but her smile had grown icy and her eyes cold and those who had known how she was before, couldn't deny that a drastic change had occured, one that wasn't nesseccarily for the better. As her best friend and top medic grew more proficient at saving life, she grew more proficient in taking it, until it was the running joke that the giver of life and bringer of death were best friends and could often be found together at the local bar on Friday nights.

But this was no laughing matter. The man across the room was deadly, but tonight, she planned on being the viper with the stronger poison.

It was only a matter of time before he noticed her, her striking beauty luring him to take seat next to her at the bar. She batted her eyes, made small talk and laughed at all his jokes, leaning in as if to hear him better while giving him a whiff of her perfume. His smile was charming and his eyes brilliantly blue and she gave him coy glances and teasingly sidestepped his advances, making sure she didn't seem to eager to leave with him.

His hand boldly found her way to her thigh and stroked over the silky black material covering her upper thigh, their place at the bar allowing him to touch her discreetly. When she parted her thighs and bit her lip enticingly, he ventured higher, his hand slipping beneath the garment to caress bare flesh.

"You're a kunoichi," he breathed, his hand smoothing over the kunai holder strapped high on her thigh.

"Yes," she smiled, her own hand wandering over his leg until her fingernails were grazing dangerously near the fly of his pants.

He had probably known she was a kunoichi before he even sat down next to her since she doubted she could hide her chakra from a shinobi of his calibur. However, it appeared he didn't consider her a threat as he met her aquamarine eyes with a knowing smile.

"You know, kunoichi are always the best partners in bed. They're so strong. So..._flexible_."

"Think you could handle me?" she purred as her fingers closed around his growing erection through the fabric of his pants.

"I'm not sure, but I want to find out," he rasped, his voice growing hoarse as she gave him a light squeeze.

She smiled, knowing he had already lost the fight, beaten not by superior jutsu or combat, but by his own lust for women.

"Alright then, let's go."

"Where?"

"Upstairs. I have a room."

It didn't take much more convincing to get him to follow her out of the bar and up the stairs. They paused only once as he spun her around and pressed against the nearest wall, kissing her gently at first, and then hungrily as he gave into his desire, making her only body hot and flushed as it responded natually and she let it happen. It was all part of the plan.

His lips were hot and demanding but not smothering, just as his wandering hands lacked the clumsiness she had experienced on similar missions. As he hooked a hand under her knee and lifted it to wrap around his waist, she realized that he certainly knew how to use what he had been blessed with. He was grinding the bulge in his pants against her insistantly, nothing separating their needy bodies but her satin thong and his rough pants. His hands found their way to her breasts, kneading lightly and discovering quite quick that she wore no bra.

He kissed her as if he meant to have her right there in the hall but as thrilling as that sounded, it wouldn't suit her purposes. Gently, she pushed him away, unhooking her leg and tugging her dress back down from where it had ridden up.

"Not here," she panted, flashing him a seductive look that promised he could finish what he started if he just followed her a little further.

They reached the door to her room and soon as they had passed through it and locked it behind them, Ino found herself picked up by strong hands and plopped on there nearest horizontal surface which happened to be a dresser.

"Impacient?" she murmured as his hands were already sliding the straps of her dress from her shoulders and tugging down the low cut bodice until twin globes of creay flesh were revealed.

"Of course," he anwered, eyes glued to petal pink nipples. "How could I resist something so beautiful?"

Inwardly, the kunoichi wondered how many women he had used that line on, but couldn't deny that his lips suddenly latching on to one soft mound felt incredibly good. The way he rolled his tongue over the tightening bud proved he was quite skilled with his mouth. That wasn't surprising considering he had probably practiced on many female bodies to become so.

"Mmm," she moaned, arching into the sensation before bringing hands to his chest to fumble with the buttons of his shirt. He straightened to assist her, releasing her breast with an audible pop as he fixed her with his heated blue gaze, soft brown hair falling into his eyes as he drank her in.

"Loose the pants too, she ordered, her own voice made breathless by lust. He really was quite attractive. It was a shame.

She jerked him forward by the waistband of the offending garment and tugged the zipper downward. Within moments they were sliding down his legs and he kicked them off along with his shoes. Devoid of clothing, she could see he was deliciously sculpted and scarred, something common among most shinobi. She licked her lips at the sight of his thick manhood, jutting out proudly and twitching ever so slightly. He was indeed gifted with quite an admirable physique. It was too bad she would have to spoil it.

She reached out to grip him in her hand, this time without the hinderance of clothing as he claimed her lips in another kiss, growling into her mouth as she began to stroke him.

His own hand came up to pinch a tight nipple between his fingers while the other slid under the hem of her dress, creeping up a long, creamy thigh until it was rubbing over the silky material of her panties; the only barrier between his fingers and her feminine flower.

She moaned against his lips as his thub stroked over her clit teasingly, the action sending shivers of pleasure through her entire body. Wantonly, she parted her thighs wider as his fingers dipped beneath the flimsy fabric to trace moistened folds before slowly sinking a single digit into her burning sex.

"Fuck," he groaned, feeling slick walls instantly clamp around him. "You're already drenched."

Ino mewled long and low as he pumped in and out of her a few times, her head falling back in pleasure as she felt her muscles contract around him. Despite her body's raging lust, she kept her guard up at all times and noticed that his was starting to slip. His need made him careless and he was forgetting that it was a kunoichi whom he was about to fuck, a woman who was just as deadly as she was beautiful.

"Put it in me," she moaned heatedly, bucking her hips impaciently against his finger. "I can't wait anymore."

He pulled his finger out with a dark chuckle, spreading the accumulated moisture over the head of his cock before aligning himself with her entrance.

"That's why I like kunoichis," he rasped against her ear as he slid himself over her nether lips, covering himself in more of her essance. "You know what you want and you're not afraid to ask for it."

"Just fuck me _now_," she moaned, wrapping her legs around him and pushing him against her. With no place to go but forward, he sank deep into the liquid paradise of her body, moaning harshly as she instantly gripped him with hot, slick walls.

She cried out at the intrusion and immediatly began bucking against him, begging him to move. Her hands gripped his bare shoulders as she panted and moaned incoherent things, spurred on by the incredibly dirty things he was whispering into her ear about how wet and hot and tight she was, how she loved having him inside her and how she loved the harsh, animialistic way he was driving his hips against hers, filling her completely with every thrust.

The dresser was slamming against the wall, rocking with the force of his movements, adding to the sounds of flesh slapping against flesh and the mingled voices of both masculine and feminine moans. Her hands were tangled in his hair now as raw pleasure streaked through her. His cock was thick and long, hitting all the tight palces within her. He certainly knew how to use the tools he had, angling his hips for harder, deeper thrusts, but even as he pleasured her to the brink of oblivion she remained aware, refusing to let herself get lost in the moment completely.

"Oh fuck baby, I'm going to come," he groaned against her ear.

"Do it. Do it inside," she panted, proving that she could be just as dirty as he wanted her to be.

She also figured she might as well say something exciting, considering it would be the last thing he was ever going to hear.

Just before his body tensed for his final release, the fingers in his hair began to glow green with medicinal chakra, chakra that was usually used to save. However, when she pressed them to the base of his skull, energy seeping into his body and severing his spinal cord in one swift move, it was clear she had no intention of healing anything. One second he was alive and the next, he wasn't, slumping against her as he was suddenly dead weight, his once ridgid member growing soft inside her.

She shoved the corpse off of her and he fell to the floor, sliding out of her with a wet slurp on the way. She didn't spare her victim another glance as she hopped off the dresser, still in stiletto heels, and stepped back into her panties before tugging her dress back into proper position. She had been incredibly merciful this time. The man had died mid intercourse with his cock still inside her and he hadn't felt a thing when she severed his spine. It was a death any man could only hope for. It was a pity she hadn't coaxed some more foreplay out of him since she had been seconds from her own orgasm as well.

It wasn't the first time she had been intimate with a target. Men were lustful creatures and she could think of no time when they were more vulnerable than when they were on the brink of orgasm. Her ideals of waiting for the ideal man had died along with her sensei. She probly wouldn't live long enough to even find the perfect man, if there was such a thing, and her body was just another tool she could use in her trade and it seemed she had become quite good at using it.

She exited the room and returned to the front desk to check out. The real place she was staying was several blocks down. There, she would change into clothes better suited for traveling and make her way back to Konoha. Her work here was done.

As she glanced up into the starless night, she wondered what Asuma thought of her now, seeing his fickle little princess turn into such a dark and jaded creature. Would he still be proud of her? Would he congratulate her on becoming an assassin so skilled that it probably wouldn't be long before her own name found its way into the bingo books? Or would he shake his head sadly, ever present ciggarette dangling from his lips?

Shikamaru had asked her once that if given the chance to start all over again, would she choose the same arduous path of a kunoichi or would she become a civilian, free of so many of the struggles she had had to endure.

She had answered that such contemplation was frivilous. She would never be granted a chance to start over and honestly, she wondered if she even wanted to. All the pain she had suffered until now to become who she was would be for nothing. She couldn't change the past and she wouldn't forget it. Running away to start a new life wasn't possible, for there was no way to be reborn and start anew after all she had seen and done. She was a walking weapon, a kunoichi finally worthy of that title and even if it marked nothing but difficult times ahead, she would face them fearlessly.

She tossed her blonde hair as the cool air kissed her flushed skin, skin that a moment before had been caressed by a man now dead in her room.

Yes, she couldn't turn away from who she was now, couldn't be reborn as something new. She could only make the most of what she had at this very moment, for tomorrow, it could all be ripped away.

XXXXX

Dark? Check. Angst? Check. Smut? You better believe it! That's all for now. Hope you enjoyed it.


	16. Blend :KakashiSakuraIno:

Many thanks to Cynchick for being so wonderful and editing the crap out of this for me.

Morning Blend

This was why Kakashi didn't attend house parties.

He should have known any party Genma threw would be wild. The aftermath of the blended drinks practically poured down his throat throbbed in his temples. They'd done a number not only on his head – a tiny Naruto was inside using his brain for a punching bag – but on his memories too. Everything was fuzzy, blending together just as the alcohol had blended with his bloodstream.

Genma behind the bar, serving drink after drink until Kakashi lost count of how much he ingested. Gai, green spandex suit bunched around his waist as he proposed a toast to youth. Hinata full of liquid courage, vowing to find Naruto and declare her love on the spot. She must have, because he recalled glimpses of them making out as if they would eat each other alive.

However, nowhere in his fragmented memories could he find the explanation for his current predicament.

This had to be Genma's room, and probably Genma's bed. Strange, considering he thought he could hold his booze well enough not to pass out in a friend's bed, although he supposed he'd never consumed so much alcohol simultaneously in his entire life. What was really disturbing was the fact that his heavy limbs were entangled with two more sets of legs; smooth, feminine legs wound with his so thoroughly that leaving without awakening them would be impossible. Two heads rested on his chest, one pink and one blonde, both mussed in a way only one activity could do.

Somehow, he'd ended up in bed with Sakura and her best friend Ino, and as far as he could tell, the three of them didn't have a shred of clothing between them.

It was that morning that Kakashi Hatake swore off alcohol.


	17. Perfect :Hinata:

Unwanted

Here's the latest drabble I wrote for a livejournal community. You can vote for weekly fanfiction winners at community./narutocontest/

Unwanted

She had never asked for any of it, the prestige, the responsibility and yet the burden had been bestowed on her ever since she was born, the title of "Heiress" weighing heavily on her shoulders.

In all honesty, she didn't want to become the next head of the Hyuuga household. Doing so meant they expected her to be perfect, an expectation she would forever fall short of. She had already disappointed her father so many times. No matter how diligently she trained, she never improved enough to satisfy him and she knew the pressure would only be amplified as time grew nearer to when the fate of the household would be put in her hands.

She knew her father had wanted a son but had been given two daughters instead. He had told her that her gender made no difference as long as she had the strength and ability to lead the family, but she couldn't help but wonder if every time he looked at Neji, he wished he had had a son just like him instead of her.

She would gladly give all that she had to her cousin. He wanted so bad to be a part of the main house, to be accepted. It was ironic that he longed to get inside the very walls that she wanted to escape from. He was a better ninja than her, that much was certain and she would have gladly stepped aside if she thought she could do so without breaking her father's heart.

Even her younger sister seemed better suited for the job than she, showing far more potential than she ever had at Hinabi's young age. It was just another factor that added to the pressure on her that became a little harder to bear every day.

She couldn't even be herself around her clan. If they knew about her long time crush on Naruto Uzumaki, they would scorn her for sure. Even if he was strong, he was reckless and wild, no more than a vessel for a dangerous beast in their eyes.

She was tired of it. All she wanted to do was worry about herself and her own training, honing her abilities only for the betterment of her team and for Konoha. So many times she had dreamed of running away and leaving the Hyuuga household to fend for itself, for it certainly seemed better without her.

But she wouldn't, and she wasn't sure weather it was because she was too weak to run or too strong not to stay.


	18. Sovereign :PeinKonan:

She looked out her bedroom window, pale eyes taking in the expanse of neon glinting off steel

Here's another drabble I wrote for a live journal community. You can vote for weekly winners or submit your own fics at community./narutocontest/

This week's prompt: Sovereign

Dogma

She looked out her bedroom window, pale eyes taking in the expanse of neon glinting off steel. There were nothing but modernized marvels as far as the eye could see, wires and metal replacing landscapes of mountains and trees.

He would be back soon. He had already been gone for hours discussing matters with the Uchiha and she longed for him to return. It seemed they spent too much time apart these days.

To her, it didn't matter who the others perceived true leader of their organization was. There was only one man she would follow without question. Even if Pein had been nothing more than a figurehead all this time, a false monarch giving orders spoken by another, she would obey as long as the commands came from him. He was her everything because he was all she had left. In her heart it was he who reigned supreme.

The recent revealing of the man beneath Tobi's curious orange mask had left the members of Akatsuki quite surprised. However, it seemed everything would still be carried out according to plan, the capture of the jinchuuriki, the extractions. It appeared the only thing that had changed was the one everyone else would now report to.

Although Konon couldn't help but wonder if Madara had some ulterior motive this whole time that would serve his own agenda, she was content to continue following him if his goals and Pein's coincided.

Pein's dream was a noble one, to rid the world of war and suffering so nobody would ever again have to experience what the two of them had as children. Even if the masses had to be controlled through fear, it was surly better than to leave them to fight like savage animals. She respected and admired his longing to bring bloodshed to an end. He would save this world just as he had saved her and in this she believed whole heartedly.

The object of her thoughts entered the room. He was so silent that not even the twist of the doorknob or his footsteps was audible, but his unmistakable presence enveloped her long before his arms encircled her waist from behind.

"It will be finished soon," he murmured against her ear, his hot breath stirring soft strands of azure hair. "We only have two more Jinchuuriki to capture and then our dream will be recognized."

It really was their shared dream, for if he wished it to be so, then she did as well.

She reached up to let slender fingers lightly caress his face as she continued to stare out the window, brushing over the cool metal studs along the side of his nose.

"We've waited so long for this," she whispered. "It is hard to believe it will finally come to pass."

He said nothing, but pulled her closer, a hand sliding to the zipper of her cloak and easing it down slowly.

"Now that Madera had exposed himself, I have had much to attend to. I'm sorry that I have neglected you Konan."

She sighed softly as he slid her cloak to the side, exposing the pale column of her neck to his warm and gentle lips.

"It's alright. You have your priorities," she said, twisting in his grip to loop her arms around his neck. "Your plan would never come to fruition if you didn't work for it diligently."

Pein's ringed gaze met hers as he brushed blue strands away from her face.

"What good is saving the world if I have no one to share it with me?"

He didn't wait for a response but titled her chin upwards as he dipped his head to meet her lips. His kiss was gentle but held an underlying power that made it clear that he was the one in control. His mouth worked against hers, slow and thorough as his hands made short work of her cloak, letting the black and red material pool around her feet as it fell away.

"It's been too long," he whispered between heated kisses, skillfully maneuvering her backwards to the nearby bed.

She moaned in agreement as she allowed him to push her down into cool sheets, his weight settling on top of her as his hands cupped her face to still her as his mouth came to plunder hers once more.

He always took control of her like this, and she submitted willingly, letting her sovereign master claim what was his. They had been together so long, since they had been mere children, that she couldn't imagine a life without him anymore. She had grown into a formidable kunoichi, strong and capable, but without Pein, she was lost. She needed him like she needed air.

She cooed softly as he kissed a trail of fire down her neck and shuddered pleasantly as he nipped at tender breasts through the thin fabric of her simple black top. She whispered his name and arched against him in pleasure when he took the metal bar through her nipple between his teeth and tugged softly, the sensations electrifying even with the thin barrier of fabric separating his mouth from her skin.

She weaved fingers into his hair and closed her eyes as her king explored his kingdom, revealing more and more of it as each piece of clothing was stripped away.

"All of this is for you," he murmured against bare skin as he touched her exactly how she liked it, having learned all the secrets of her body long ago. "I'll always protect you."

His words were almost as much the cause of her euphoria as his hands and lips. As long as he was alive, she would remain at his side, following his command without question. They had been to hell and back together and she would go on that journey again if it meant staying with him.

She cried out in delight as he slipped a finger inside her, finding the spot that never ceased to make her tremble while hungry lips claimed hers once more.

Pein was right. What good was saving the world if she had nobody to share it with?


	19. Creep :Kakashi:

Here's another drabble for the LJ community NarutoContest. Check it out if you can. This week the prompt is "creep". The story is set when Kakashi is still in ANBU, before he started teaching team 7.

* * *

He was the shadow of death, the silent executioner who could be purchased for a hefty price. He had trained long and hard to become what he was now.

Their death was silent and painless, one moment they were alive, the next their throat slit or a kunai through their heart or a senbon piercing them between the eyes.

Konoha's Copy Ninja, one of ANBU's finest, the man of a thousand jutsu and another thousand ways to kill silently, effortlessly. It was his job to murder. His hands were so stained with blood that he would never again be able to look at them without seeing the crimson of those slain by his hand.

At twenty two he was a prodigy, his unnatural gift of the Sharingan making him a strong asset to Konoha and he strove to make his village proud, and yet there was no way he hadn't come this far without losing something on the way.

He stood before his mirror, the night calm and still outside as he prepared to leave for another assassination mission. His face was covered as always, by both his black fabric mask and the white and red one with the emotionless animal face, mismatched eyes void of emotion staring back at him. He traced the slightly raised tattoo on his arm, the mark of the ANBU that proved his loyalty.

His path to this point had been anything but easy and would probably only get harder. He had lost everyone he cared about and was now a solitary creature, but he no longer minded being alone. It was his fate to creep through the night, a liquid shadow, a figment of the imagination.

Murder was his trade and he excelled in it.


	20. Judge :Everyone:

Here's another drabble written for the LJ community narutocontest, and this week's is exceptionally cracktastic, complete with cheesy title:

* * *

Bikini Bonanza

* * *

Fund raisers were the root of all evil, and Iruka Umino could attest to this. He knew better than anyone that the academy indeed needed the money, considering some of the practice kunai were so old they wouldn't hold an edge no matter how much you sharpened them, and the straw dummies they used as targets didn't exactly grow on trees. However, he was still at a loss as to how he had been roped in along with Genma and Jiraiya to act as judges in Konoha's first kunoichi bikini competition.

It Konohamaru who had though of it and Iruka had fought against the instant barrage of supporters, but they argued that civilian and shinobi villagers alike would gladly pay for slightly overpriced tickets if it meant the opportunity to gaze at the local beauties in flimsy bikinis, and Tsunade had agreed.

Now he was in the middle of the judge's panel, surrounded by what was likely to be the entire village sitting in hastily erected wooden bleachers. The sun was shining but it wasn't unbearably hot, a perfect day for an outdoor swimsuit competition, at least it would have been if he was in to this sort of thing. The judges on either side of him seemed far more enthusiasm than he did. To the left, Genma was staring up expectantly at the temporary stage constructed for the event, senbon dangling from his lips like the world's deadliest toothpick, and to the right sat Jiraiya, rubbing his palms together in almost gleeful anticipation.

"Good afternoon folks, and thanks for coming out today to Konoha's first kunoichi swimsuit competition!"

Ebisu's voice rang out loud and clear on the microphone as he emerged from in between the white sheets that were serving as the stage's makeshift curtains.

A chorus of cheers came from the crowd, most of them male, at the word "swimsuit".

"I'd like to remind you that a hundred percent of the proceeds will go directly to the ninja academy. Thank you for all of your support," Ebisu continued, adjusting his dark glasses. "Now without further delay, let's start the show!"

Izumo tweaked a few knobs an the sound booth and gave a thumbs up to the man on stage, while behind the scenes, Kotetsu pulled the rope rigged to a simple pulley system to open the curtains. Both seemed far more happy with their current jobs than their usual tasks better known as "Tsunade's persona; gophers."

More masculine shouts filled the air as Ebizu took a seat on a stool near the wings, microphone in hand.

Genma clapped enthusiastically while Jiraiya cheered like he was rooting for his favorite team. Iruka grabbed a tissue out of the box on the table before him, just in case. He was prone to explosive nose bleeds at the sight of a beautiful woman, which was why he hadn't wanted to judge in the first place. He had a reputation of being a respectable man, something that was important when he worked with so many children, and he didn't want a public display of a nosebleed caused by perverted thoughts to change that.

"Our first contestant is a master with all things sharp, pointy, and hazardous to your health. Please welcome Tenten!"

Whistles and heavy applause greeted the brunette as she walked on stage. Her hair was free of its normal buns, done up instead in twin braids that only made her baby blue polka dot bikini all the more endearing, especially with the beach ball under her arm.

"There's my Tenten, a beautiful blossom in the springtime of youth!" a voice cried out above all the cheers, and nobody was surprised to see Gai standing up in his seat, hands clasped together as tears streamed down his face. The similar looking boy next to him seemed just as moved by their team mate's performance, both shouting praise, but Neji was simply shaking his head, a palm pressed to his forehead as he tried to endure the embarrassment of being seen with Rock Lee and their exuberant sensei.

"Gai, sit down. The people behind you can't see," a calm voice said. Mai looked down to the silver haired man sitting next to him and saw he hadn't even bothered to put down his book.

"But look at her charm, her beauty! Is it not a truly wonderful sight to see our students enjoying the fires of their youth?"

"Sit down," Kakashi repeated without looking up from his book.

Reluctantly, Gai complied, but continued to speak, his unnaturally bushy eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"Perhaps my female student exhibits more magnificence than your own?"

"Perhaps," he replied blandly.

"A challenge!" Gai cried, pointing a finger skyward for no apparent reason. "I say we let the judges find the gem which sparkles the brightest among Konoha's youthful treasures. The sensei of the loser shall do three hundred laps around Konoha on their hands, backwards.

"If you insist," Kakashi drawled, disinterested in the whole thing.

Up on stage Tenten was walking the perimeter, looking every bit the carefree girl she was role playing. Her performance seemed to impress at least two of the judges for Genma removed his senbon long enough to blow her a kiss and Jiraiya was scribbling in a notebook and muttering something about inspiration for a new book. Iruku had the tissue held to his nose, his eyes flicking about trying to look everywhere but at the woman on stage.

Tenten took the beach ball she had been holding and spiked it into the audience. It went straight for Neji and he caught the ball easily, looking at the girl who had thrown it with wide opal eyes. She giggled, clasping her hands behind her back, smiling at him from the stage and letting him and all of Konoha know that the ball landing in his lap had been more than chance. The Hyuuga's cheeks turned slightly pink and Kiba, who was sitting behind him, leaned forward to elbow him knowingly.

Teneten turned on her heel and flounced off stage, leaving a roaring crowd in her wake as Ebisu picked up his mic once again.

"Once again, that was Tenten ladies and gentleman. Wasn't she sweet?"

A chorus of yells let by Rock Lee confirmed that she was.

"Our next contestant is as pretty as the posies she sells. Please welcome Ino Yamanaka!"

The moment she walked on stage, whistles and cat calls erupted from all sides, including the judge's panel, considering Jiraiya was hollering loudly. Genma had settled for just waggling his eyebrows at her suggestively while Iruka could feel the first drops of blood trickle out his nose and into his tissue. It was hardly surprising considering she was wearing a metallic teal bikini that was definitely cut on the skimpy side. The bottoms were cut high and held together only by ties on the side and the triangles of fabric making up her top barely contained her breasts. Her hair was in its usual ponytail but her eyes held such a sultry and confident gaze that she had every man practically howling like wolves at the moon.

"Hey Shika, she doesn't look half bad," Chouji remarked through a handful of potato chips.

The young genius sighed, dragging his focus away from the sky and the clouds above to glance at her before yawning and picking at his ear with his pinky finger.

"This is all so troublesome," he mumbled. "She doesn't need all of this adoration going to her head."

"Now, now," Asuma chuckled between deep drags on his cigarette. "One of these days you're going to be interested in women and when that day finally comes, you might see the world a little differently."

Shikamaru tried not to notice as his sensei's hand discreetly took the hand of the woman next to him, gazing into her ruby red eyes before removing his cigarette to kiss her on the cheek. Shikamaru looked skyward again, convinced that the display was enough to make anyone sick.

In the row in front of him, Sasuke was looking equally bored, although not so much that he didn't steal a glance or two at the body that was on display.

"What do you know," Sai piped up, who so far had managed to sit net to the Uchiha without instigating a fight. "The dog doesn't look so ugly when she wears that."

"Yeah, sure," Naruto replied from his seat between Sai and Kakashi, shamelessly fascinated with the way Ino's chest jiggled slightly with her every step. "But if you ever talk to her in person about it, just tell her she looked pretty."

The blonde woman smiled seductively, showing off her best supermodel walk complete with poses, making sure everyone got a good view of her, both front side and back before leaving the stage, hips swishing provocatively.

"Let's hear it for Ino," Ebisu said, raising a fresh chorus of applause.

"Uh Kiba, are you ok?" Shino asked, noting that he was panting with his tongue out like a dog that had just run a mile. The real dog laying on the bleacher next to him was in the middle of a nap.

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine," Kiba replied, shaking his head like he had just come out of a daze. Kunrenai reached over the sleeping dog to whack the fanged ninja upside the head for practically drooling all over himself.

"Next is a little lady you might meet during your next hospital visit, but don't worry, she's sure to make it all better. Please welcome Sakura Haruno!"

"This is the last time I send you on an errand to buy me clothes," the medic kunoichi hissed to Kotetsu as she walked past him in the wings. He simply grinned at her and gave her the "ok" sign with his thumb and pointer finger, implying that despite her own opinion, he thought she looked great.

She rolled her eyes and plastered a smile on her face as she walked on to the stage, adjusting her grip on the orange plastic buoy under her arm.

"It appears I may have met my match," Gai noted as the audience cheered wildly. "You're student is a glorious vision of youthful beauty."

Kakashi finally dragged his gaze away from his book to focus on the woman on stage. If it wasn't for the mask covering his face, the whole town would have had the opportunity to witness his jaw go slack. His normally modest student was in a simple bikini, but what really made his mouth go dry were the strategically placed white medical crosses, one in the middle of each triangle of her top and one dangerously low on the front of her bottoms. If she was indeed in need of some first aid in those places, he wouldn't mind administering it.

"Wow, Sakura-chan is so hot, isn't she Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto shouted excitedly. Sai and even Sasuske were watching her attentively as well.

It seemed Kakashi was a little tongue tied at the moment, his visible eye wide and focused raptly on the pink haired woman on stage, so Naruto turned to Sai instead.

"It's a good thing you said she wasn't feminine enough for this contest, otherwise she never would have entered."

"Yes," Sai responded. "But I don't understand why she punched me in the face for it before going off to register."

"It's because you're an idiot," Sasuke replied tersely, although his eyes were still glued to Sakura.

"I suppose that beats a dickless backstabber," Sai remarked, smiling a fake, cheerful smile at the brooding man next to him.

A vein began to throb in the Uchiha's forehead as he finally turned to face the man beside him.

"Sai, after this contest is over, I'm going to kill you."

Iruka was beginning to panic. His nose was bleeding steadily now and he already had to change tissues twice. This was not looking good. Jiraiya was one again scribbling away in his notebook, letting out exclamations of "glorious" and "ultra sexy" that could be heard even over Rock Lee's loud and incredibly obnoxious confessions of love. Genma was eyeing her up and down like she was prime rib and he was a mighty hungry man. For as heated as his gaze was, Sakura returned one that was equally chilling, shutting down the Casanova on the spot.

"Sakura, you better win!" a shout sounded from the crowd. "I bet a lot of money on you!"

Shizune was unsuccessfully trying to subdue the already inebriated blonde at her side who was waving a mostly empty sake bottle around.

"Tsunade-sama, please calm down," she pleaded nearly getting smacked in the face by the glass bottle as the Hokage flailed her arms.

"Take off your top!" the buxom blonde hollered. "That will score you some points!"

Men within earshot agreed enthusiastically, pumping fists into the air, but it seemed like the pink haired kunoichi had no intention of turning the odds in her favor by baring a little extra skin.

"Sakura-chan, marry me!" Naruto blurted, not to be outdone by his green spandex wearing peer or the intoxicated godaime.

His plea stopped her in her tracks as she was walking away and she spun around to fix him with a glare. With frightening force and accuracy, she hurled her buoy at him, nailing him right between the eyes and sending him flying backwards off his seat before stomping off into the wings.

The whole audience went silence for a moment before simultaneously breaking into rounds of loud cheering.

"What a firecracker folks!" Ebisu said. "Let's hear it again for Sakura."

The host waited for the noise to subside before announcing the next contestant, but when he went to read off the note card in his hand, he squinted hard at it as if he couldn't believe what it said.

"Alright folk," he said, recovering at last. "Our next kunoichi is by far the youngest in the competition but let's make sure she feels welcome. On stage next is…Moegi."

While there was some hesitant applause, there was also a great deal of hushed whispering, mostly asking questions like, "wasn't there an age limit to register?" and "is it really alright to promote this?"

That didn't seem to deter the young kunoichi as she emerged from the curtains, smiling face beaming like the sun as she flounced around in her yellow tankini. Despite all her training, her figure was slightly rounded with the baby fat she had yet to lose. Other than that, she had no real curves to speak of.

"Jail bait," Genma muttered around his senbon, while Jiraiya scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"A scene with a minor could be something new and fresh, but would they still publish it?"

Iruka didn't even want to know what was going on in the older man's head, but he was thankful for the younger girl's appearance. He was able to look at her without feeling like every drop of blood in his body was going to squirt out his nose.

While she wasn't exactly the sexiest competitor, she was definitely cute, smiling and waving while grinning from ear to ear.

"Woo! Moegi rocks!" shouted Konohamaru who was sitting in the front row of bleachers. The praise from her team mate only made her beam brighter and she shined like a mini sun until she disappeared off stage.

"She's got to be the cutest little thing in Konoha," Ebisu said. "Let's give her another round of applause.

The crowd complied with clapping that was much less hesitant this time as Iruka made sure to give her full marks on his score sheet. Not making him feel like he was going to pass out from blood loss had to be worth something, right?

"We're coming down to the end folks. Only two more contestants to go."

The audience responded with a resounding "aww," not wanting the parade of eye candy to end so soon.

"I know, I know. So let's make sure we really cheer for our last two girls." Ebisu said before introducing the next name.

"This flower may be fair but she's not exactly delicate, and if she looks like she's staring right through you, that's because she is! Please welcome Hinata Hyuuga!"

The clapping and cheering was immediate and Kiba leaned over to talk to Neji again.

"Hinata? Really? You talked her into entering? How did you manage that?"

The brown haired man shrugged as he held his beach ball on his lap.

"Don't ask me. I had nothing to do with it. I think Hanabi told her that entering might get Naruto to notice her."

Kiba grinned toothily.

"Hopefully. That idiot is so dense that the whole world knows she likes him but _him_."

The clapping continued but slowly ebbed away when no bikini clad kunoichi appeared.

Ebisu looked around perplexed before announcing her again.

"I repeat, please welcome Hinata!"

The crowd had gone silent and a soft feminine voice could be heard coming from the wings.

"I-I can't go out there, not in…_this_."

"Sounds like your cousin is having second thoughts about this," Rock Lee whispered to the man next to him. Neji wasn't at all surprised. In fact, he had been astonished she had agreed to do it in the first place.

"It seems our next contestant is a little shy. How about we show her some support folks?" Ebizu said.

The crowd began to chant her name in unison, clapping as they called "Hi-na-ta!Hi-na-ta!"

Backstage, Kotetsu had left his post near the curtain to try and persuade the timid woman to walk on stage.

"Come on Hinata, it will only be for a few minutes. You can do it."

"B-but, everyone will see me dressed this way," she whimpered, crossing her arms over her chest in an attempt to cover herself more.

The man adjusted the bandage over the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"Well, yeah. The point of a swimsuit contest is that you wear a swimsuit."

"B-b-but I…"

Kotetsu realized words were not going to work on this girl and instead began to shoo her towards stage, closing in on her so the only place she could step was into the wings.

"No, Kotetsu-san. I can't…"

"You'll be great. Don't worry."

"No…please," she begged.

"Hinata, just _go_."

He punctuated his last word with a soft shove that sent her stumbling out onto the stage in view of everyone and instantly, the audience was hushed.

Hinata squeaked like a frightened mouse, her cheeks turning crimson as she tried to cover up her breast with crossed arms, knock knees trembling like a rabbit in the face of countless eyes fixed on her.

Her long, violet tinted hair hung loose down her back, framing her face and contrasting beautifully with alabaster skin. Opal eyes were wide and shiny as mortified tears welled up in them. It wasn't like her outfit was scandalous. In fact, the deep purple one piece was cut quite modestly with only an oval cut out in the back showing additional skin. The scoop neck line wasn't exceptionally low, but still showed off a hint of cleavage. If the contestants scored points based on cup size, Hinata was definitely in the running for first place.

For a breathless moment, nobody spoke, all eyes transfixed on the figure on stage that was wide eyed and frozen like a deer in the headlights. Then suddenly, as if a spell had been broken, everyone went wild at once.

"You're beautiful!" Rock Lee cried, practically swooning.

"Yes, a fine example of our vivacious youth," Gai agreed.

"Where has she been hiding _those_?" Kiba gasped, eyes practically popping out of his head. He had trained with her for years and not once had he seen her so exposed. Now that she had, he would never get the awe inspiring sight of her big, round breasts out of his head ever again.

Wordlessly, Kunrenai reached over to smack him again.

"It's a shame she's always wearing that jacket," Shino muttered low enough so he wouldn't receive similar punishment.

Neji groaned aloud. He had known about Hinata's bountiful breasts ever since they had first developed. As cousins, they shared a co-ed bath at the hot springs from time to time and he had noticed that she was unusually gifted in that particular area. She was always self conscious about them and always bound them as tightly as she could, but now that the whole village knew what was under her clothes, there would be no end to the men that came to call on her now. Great. Just great.

He looked over at the orange jacketed imbecile in the stands, hoping that he might finally get a clue. Hinata _was_ doing it for him after all.

Naruto looked completely captivated, expression awed before melting into a dreamy and slightly goofy smile.

"Wow, she's so pretty," he murmured. "I always thought she was just some weird girl, but she's _really _pretty."

"Direct hit, cupid," Kakashi muttered, actually finding Hinata more interesting than his book, though not nearly as interesting as Sakura.

"About time," Sasuke grumbled, knowing that Naruto was long overdue in taking notice of the Hyuuga heiress.

Chouji had paused, a handful of chips raised halfway to his mouth and even Shikimaru was looking at her and not the clouds.

"Perfection!" Jiraiya cried, making a square with both thumbs and index fingers and peering through it like the viewfinder on a camera. "You are the next heroine of Icha Icha! Everything about you is magnificent!"

Genma, who was usually so suave and smooth, was staring slack jawed, eyes roaming over her figure from head to toe and back. He looked like a man lost in the desert that had finally spotted an oasis but was trying to figure out whether the heavenly vision was real or not.

Between them, Iruka had his eyes shut tight. Judging by the crowd's reaction, one look could be the end of him. He couldn't look. He _wouldn't _look, no matter how badly he wanted too. He had finally just gotten his nosebleed under control after Moegi's act and he didn't want to lose it all now. He simply wouldn't look and he would be fine. It would all be over see. He…wait, why was he opening his eyes?!

It appeared sheer curiosity and the fact he was a man were a greater force than his willpower. Before he knew it, he was staring at the adorably sexy scene that was Hinata Hyuuga, all flustered and shy and trembling, gorgeous without even trying.

It all happened so quick that he couldn't stop himself. He didn't even have time to grab a new tissue as a torrent of blood shot from both nostrils, the force sending him rocketing backwards and tipping over his chair.

"What the…jeez Iruka are you ok?" Genma asked, the twin geysers of blood next to him snapping him out of his stupor.

As he tried to help his incapacitated friend back into a sitting position, Hinata seemed to finally gain some of her mobility back. The wall of people cheering all for her was too much. She could face this many enemies, but this many fans? That was a concept too frightening to contemplate.

"I'm sorry!" she cried, tipping her head in a small bow before bolting off stage, lips quivering when she realized she hadn't even gotten the chance to pick Naruto out of the crowd.

Her abrupt exit only increased the volume of the plentiful cheers.

"She's so cute!" Kiba cried, seeing his team mate from a whole new perspective.

Naruto continued to stare dreamily at the spot on stage where she had been.

"I think the idiot is smitten," Sasuke scoffed, although he had to admit her rack had been impressive.

"Alright, alright. Let's settle down," Ebisu announced when it seemed the rampant cheering was not going to die down on its own. "We still have one more contestant to welcome."

Applause for Hinata finally died away, and he continued.

"This lovely lady had come quite a ways to be a part of this, so let's all show her how much we appreciate it. Let's hear it for Temari!"

Shikimaru, who had been slouching lazily in his seat suddenly sat up a little straighter.

"Temari? She didn't tell me she was going to be in town."

Asuma chuckled knowingly.

"What's this? Interested in things concerning a _woman_?"

The ponytailed man rolled his eyes as if the question was tedious.

"No. It's just that…she usually tells me when she'll be in Konoha."

"Maybe she wanted to surprise you," Kurenai smiled, exchanging glances with Asuma. They both knew what Shikimaru didn't want to admit to himself, but they weren't going to point it out. He would figure it out eventually.

A tall, slender figure took the stage, her strong presence demanding the attention of the audience. Her hair was in its usual style of four small ponytails but instead of the normal, massive fan she always carried, she had two smaller ones, one in each hand. They were open, displaying bright patterns that strategically covered her body at the breasts and hips. With the paper fans open, it was hard to tell if she was wearing anything underneath.

"I thought you had to be a Konoha ninja to qualify for this," Shino mused, lifting dark glasses to stare at her without a dark tint.

"Who cares man? Just enjoy the show," Kiba grinned, clearly appreciating the view.

Temari moved with style and grace, making sure her body continued to face the audience so as not to give away whether or not she was wearing a swimsuit by showering them her profile.

She definitely had a sexy aura about her, but something else was beneath the surface, a subtle something that every experienced ninja was attuned to. It was the aura of someone extremely dangerous. She may be beautiful, but she was like a rose, and getting pricked by her thorns could be deadly. To many men in the crowd, that only served to make her all the more alluring.

After walking across the stage, she made her way back to the middle. There were only whispered and low murmurs rippling through the crowd, meaning she had them completely intrigued. She smiled up at two men who had only just recently appeared behind the very back row of bleachers. They appeared to be floating in mid air, but she knew better.

With a theatrical flourish, she flipped the fans in mid air, passing them to opposite hands and spun around to close them both with a snap, revealing herself in a tiny black bikini that wasn't quite as small as Ino's, but darn close.

The crowd instantly applauded at her trick, whistling and clapping wildly.

One of the new figured was clapping as well while the other merely stood with his arms crossed.

"Don't encourage her Kankuro," the shorter man sighed, glaring at his brother's clapping hands.

"But look how happy she is. She's loving this, and the crowd obviously loves her," he replied before sticking two fingers in his mouth and whistling loud and shrill.

"Yes, she does seem to enjoy the theatrics," Gaara nodded. "Although, I still can't believe she dragged us all the way to Konoha for _this_."

"Hey, we could use the vacation," Kankura smiled, still clapping for his sister.

"Whatever," Gaara replied shortly, commanding the pillar of sand they were standing on to sink back into the ground.

Temari basked in the cheers and applause, strutting proudly around the stage. She had immediately caught sight of Shikamaru when she had entered the scene and made a point to direct her sultry gaze up at him. When she was sure his eyes had locked on hers, she winked before turning and walking towards the wings.

His spine went erect, sitting up straighter than he had for months at her flirtatious gesture, his cheeks turning a lovely shade of pale pink.

"What's the matter Shikamaru? You look flushed," Kurenai said, her voice teasing.

"It's nothing. I'm fine," he said irritably, stubbornly crossing his arms and looking once again towards the sky, although his blush didn't go away.

"All the way from Wind Country, let's hear it again for Temari!" Ebisu said, having become quite proficient at rallying the crowd. "That was our last contestant folks but don't go anywhere. After a few moments, the judges will determine a winner."

Right on cue, Genma stood, dragging an unconscious looking Iruka behind him who still had blood dribbling from his nose. Jiraiya brought up the rear, scribbling in his notebook and muttering something about a scene with a seductress who danced with fans and used them as a means to cover her naked body.

As they wandered off to an undisclosed location to compare scores, the contestants gathered in the wings.

Ino was staring after the judges and made a few hand seals before steepling her fingers in the sign marking her mind control jutsu. She might have succeeded in entering Jiraiya's mind too if Sakura hadn't caught her and slapped them out of the formed seal.

"No cheating Ino Pig," she barked with her hands on her hips.

"What's the matter? Afraid you don't have what it takes to win?" Ino smiled sweetly.

"Well apparently _you_ are if you're resorting to cheap tricks," Sakura shot back

Ino's smile instantly transformed into a glare and the two stared daggers at each other until Temari intervened.

"Ok you two, that's enough," she said, smacking them both on the head with closed fans. "Let's at least be civil until the competition is over."

Moegi giggled.

"They're always like that Temari-san."

Tenten was speaking in soothing tones to Hinata who seemed highly distraught about going back on stage while the winner was announced and Kotetsu was silently enjoying the whole thing, doing his fair share of ogling while the ogling was good.

It didn't take long for the judges to return, Genma and Jiraiya taking their seats while Iruku, who had a wad of tissue shoved up each nostril, handed Ebisu an envelope.

"Well everyone, this is it," he said into the mic, summoning the attention of the crowd that had been murmuring amongst themselves until now. "I have the winning name here in my hand. But before we get to that, why don't we have all of our ladies come out one last time?"

As the swimsuit clad women made their way out onto the stage one by one, the crowd let out a deafening roar of applause that was by far the loudest of the afternoon.

All of them were smiling, except Hinata who seemed to be clinging to Tenten's hand as if for dear life, hoping she could steal some of her courage to dispel her stage fright via osmosis.

Ebisu took center stage, envelope in hand.

"Well, it was one heck of a competition ladies, but I'm afraid there can only be one winner, and may I remind you that the winner receives a free day of pampering at Konoha's local hot spring and spa."

The girls tittered among themselves. The word "spa" always seemed to get females excited.

"The winner of the first kunoichi swimsuit contest it…"

He paused for dramatic effect while the audience held its breath.

"Hinata Hyuuga!"

"Nooo!" Tsunade wailed, losing yet another bet before yelling, "It was rigged I tell you! Sakura should have won!"

Ino gasped, clearly shocked that she wasn't the victor while the crowd, once again, went wild. Moegi, Sakura and Tenten were congratulating the winning woman while Temari, seemingly uninterested in the whole affair, was once again smiling up at Shikamaru in the stands.

"Hinata, Hinata you won! Isn't that great?" Tenten smiled.

"Yeah, Naruto _has_ to notice you now," Moegi grinned.

The heiress seemed at a loss for words, looking rather shocked and paler than usual.

"Congratulations!" Ebisu said into the mic as he handed her a bouquet of pretty pink roses along with her gift card to the spa.

"I…I…" Hinata sputtered.

Sakura noted that the winning woman suddenly wasn't looking so good.

"Hinata, are you ok?" she asked, the medic in her kicking in.

She never had a chance to answer, because her eyes slid shut and she fell to the floor as she fainted dead away.

Sakura was on her in an instant, ordering the others to stand back as she took her pulse and checked to make sure she was breathing. What should have been a critical situation only spurred on the enthusiastic crowd.

"Give her mouth to mouth!" Kiba yelled to Sakura before flinching as Kurenai threatened to hit him once again.

Neji sighed in his seat, not overly concerned about his cousin's condition. She fainted all the time, and honestly, he was mildly surprised she hadn't done it sooner.

Kotestu ran to his post and closed the curtains, obscuring the scene from view as Ebisu thanked everyone for coming out and told them that the contest was indeed over.

"You know," Kakashi said, leaning over to speak to Naruto. "After all this is over, you should take Hinata out to dinner to congratulate her."

Naruto's eyes were big and blue and hopelessly clueless.

"You really think so?"

"Of course," the masked man smiled. "You want to tell her how pretty she looked today right?"

The blonde grinned sheepishly.

"Well yeah. I never realized she looked so…well…pretty. She's even better looking than Sakura."

"Just don't tell her that or you're a dead man," Sasuke chuckled, shoving his hands in his pockets as he stood.

"I get the feeling that talking about a woman's appearance is a very delicate matter," Sai commented as they made their way down the bleachers with the rest of the crowd.

Kakashi chuckled at his student's lack of understanding when it came to the female species.

"Sai, you have no idea."

Iruka let out a heavy sigh of relief. He had survived his first fund raiser, although it probably wouldn't be his last if he continued to teach at the academy. One thing was for sure though. He didn't care how many people begged. All future fundraisers would have absolutely nothing to do with bikinis, plain and simple.

"Well, that went well, don't you think?" Genma asked, clapping him on the shoulder in a friendly gesture.

Considering the winner was passed out backstage and he still had tissue shoved up his nose, Iruka wasn't so sure.

"Yes, this was a big hit, and I was able to do plenty of research!" Jiraiya laughed.

A big hit huh? Tsunade would be the judge of that, but knowing her, she would gladly host another one no matter how much debt her betting on this one had put her in. If that was the case, Iruka was quite certain he wanted no part of it.

Far above the crowd, on top of the Hokage monument, two dark figures had been watching the proceedings, but now that the show was over, they turned to go.

"Damn, why doesn't our organization get some women like that? Our hideout is a sausage fest," one man complained as he adjusted the large sword he carried on his back. "And the only chick we _do_ have is off limits."

"It would be an unnecessary distraction to have women around," the shorter man said as he walked away without a second glance.

The sword wielder grinned, displaying countless rows of dangerous, serrated teeth.

"That's probably true. You seemed particularly distracted by that pink haired girl in the red bikini. I don't blame you. I wouldn't mind having a little alone time with her myself if you know what I mean."

His partner shot him a crimson eyed glare that said he didn't appreciate his statement at all.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said.

"Hey, you can deny it all you want Itachi, but you're human too you know," the tall, blue skinned man grinned. "I bet you can do some pretty awesome bedroom tricks with that Sharingan too."

"Drop it Kisame," Itachi said shortly, not at all amused by his partner's antics.

The shark man sighed as they made for Konoha's borders.

"Hey Itachi," he said after a moment. "What are the odds that the next town we go to will also be holding a swimsuit competition?"

"Not good," he replied with a swish of his red and black cloak.

Kisame chuckled.

"Well, I can dream can't I?"


	21. If Looks Could Kill :Team 7:

I know it's been a while since I put out a drabble but here it is. This one gave me a lot of trouble and it took me forever to come up with an idea. I hope it turned out ok anyway.

* * *

Death in a Glance

Sakura surveyed the damage before her, dead bodies littering the forest floor like empty cups after a wild party. These had been some of Konoha's finest shinobi, elite ANBU, every one of them, but they had been defeated nonetheless, the whole squad now still and lifeless. And yet, there was no blood on the ground or on their clothes, no cuts or gashes or even bruises on the bit of skin not covered by painted masks, gloves or vests.

The rest of her team watched her work silently as she went from corpse to corpse, checking for a cause of death, Naruto too shocked by the horror of the scene before him to form words and Kakashi, too smart to think anything he could say would lessen the impact of seeing so many fallen comrades. Sai looked on passively, having become immune to such things after all his years in ROOT, lacking an emotional detachment that even Kakashi did not possess.

Tsunade had sent the four of them to investigate when an ANBU squad reported seeing an unidentified shinobi whom they were having trouble chasing down. Team Seven had finally found the squad nearly a day from the village at the farthest point on their patrol route, only to lay eyes on the carnage that was now before them, although, all four of them could admit that as far as bloodbaths went, this one was probably the least gory ever witnessed.

"This one is just like the rest," the kunoichi said softly, finishing examining another body. "I'll have to do a full autopsy back at the village, but it seems there's no damage to vital organs or blood loss. I can't detect any poisons or other foreign substances in their bodies either."

Naruto seemed perplexed, eyeing the closest body curiously.

"Then what killed them?" he asked, unable to stay silent for too long, even under such circumstances. It simply wasn't in his nature. "I doubt the enemies stared them all to death."

Sakura was too caught up in examining the corpses to even roll her eyes, but Sai surprised them by speaking.

"If the enemy shinobi were proficient with genjutsu, they could have done exactly that."

Sakura and Naruto turned to face the stoic member of their team, a medley of dark clothing and pale skin against the green backdrop of the forest. Kakashi seemed to be lost in thought as he studied the deceased ANBU at his feet.

"Genjutsu?" Sakura mused, diverting her attention back to the corpse's now unmasked face. Its features were unmarred by signs of death and the bodies, though no longer warm, had not yet succumbed to rigor mortis. They had to have died quite recently.

"It would have to be an incredibly powerful jutsu to kill all these people," Sai observed.

"Yeah, what kind of person would have a power like that?" Naruto wondered allowed, staying alert in case the killer was still close by. "They would have to kill by illusion alone not to put any marks on the bodies."

He knew trapping an enemy in an illusion and incapacitating them was one thing, but having the power to kill with just a vision was a whole new level entirely.

Kakashi, who had remained quiet until now, spoke.

"The Sharingan could do it."

All faces turned to him and this time, even Sai looked surprised.

"Even I have no idea of the full capabilities of the Sharingan," the Copy ninja explained, single eye scanning the battlefield. "But I know that an Uchiha with a deep understanding of his own bloodline limit could quite possibly have several jutsu capable of doing this."

"But that would mean…" Sakura began.

"…that it could only be one of two people!" Naruto finished, blue eyes wide as he began to scan the forest as if he expected to find one of the Uchiha lurking behind a tree.

Kakashi held up his hands in a calming gesture.

"Easy there, Naruto. I'm not saying it was an Uchiha, but I do know that whoever did this would have to have abilities on par with the Sharingan if these shinobi did indeed die while trapped in a genjutsu."

Sakura's heart was racing as if it meant to beat its way out of her chest. If the Sharingan _was _responsible, then that meant that an Uchiha had been standing here in this clearing only a short while ago. She knew it was silly to jump to conclusions, but if it had been Itachi, then he was dangerously close to Konoha and perhaps the search for the Kyuubi was in effect once more, putting Naruto at great risk to be outside the village. If it had been Sasuke…

"Speculating won't do us much good," Kakashi said, breaking off Sakura's thoughts. "The best thing we can do is get these bodies back to Konoha for further examination. We'll learn nothing out here."

Sai nodded wordlessly as Sakura gingerly stood up from where she had been kneeling alongside a body, the two of them beginning the task of shouldering the corpses in preparation to carry them back. They would have to take at least two apiece and the journey home would be long and slow with the additional dead weight, but they could do it. Naruto however seemed reluctant to leave, blue eyes still searching the greenery around them.

"Come on Naruto," Sakura prodded gently, understanding his hesitancy as she slung another lifeless body over her back. "It probably wasn't him. What would he be doing way out here anyway?"

The blond opened his mouth to speak but it wasn't his voice that filled the clearing.

"I could ask you the same thing, Sakura."

Four figures whirled around to find the speaker, emerging casually from the trees as if the sight of so many dead bodies was of little consequence.

Sakura gasped sharply as the pale figure emerged from the trees, white yukata falling open to reveal milky skin stretched over sculpted muscle, the familiar purple obi tied around his waist serving as a sort of holster for his katana.

"Sasuke," Naruto breathed, the astonishment all too clear in his voice.

Kakashi and Sai had stiffened, kunai drawn as they assumed fighting stances, knowing that a confrontation with the deserter could turn ugly very quickly, but Sakura and Naruto stood unmoving, the kunoichi seemingly unaware of the weight of the bodies across her back.

"You sure showed up quickly," the Uchiha remarked blandly, surveying his former teammates with disinterest. "I'm hardly in Fire Country a day and you're already one my trail."

"We didn't know it was you," Sakura breathed softly, hardly able to believe what she was seeing. "We thought—"

"Yes, so I heard," Sasuke smirked, crossing his arms as if the four shinobi posed little threat to him. "I'm surprised you didn't notice me sooner. Even though I masked my chakra, I thought you would have sensed me."

Naruto took a step forward, but still had not drawn his weapon. His eyes blue eyes held no fear, only sadness as he gestured to the dead bodies that had once been his fellow villagers.

"Did you do this?"

Sasuke shrugged blandly as if it was of little concern, meeting cerulean orbs steadily with black.

"So what if I did?"

"But they were your comrades," Naruto whispered, his voice wounded and disbelieving as he realized Sasuke had once again betrayed his home. "They were from your village! How could you do that to them?"

"Konoha is not my village anymore," Sasuke spat, as if the idea of belonging there made him sick. "Kabuto needed bodies for his experiments and apparently shinobi corpses can endure more than a civilian's. He wanted them to be fresh and I was passing through Fire Country anyway."

He explained his actions with a detachment that was frightening. He truly didn't care whether or not the men he had killed were his kinsmen. As far as he was concerned, he had none and the thought made silent rage boil within Naruto's chest.

"Sasuke, forget about all of this and come back with us," Sakura pleaded desperately. "I'm sure Tsunade will work out something with you if you come home."

The dark haired shinobi gave a dark, humorless laugh and shot her a glance that was more fit for a stranger. It was cold and indifferent and Sakura felt more pain from that look than if he had pierced her heart with a kunai.

"Why would I return to the place that kept me weak? I've grown more powerful in the few short years with Orochimaru than I ever would have in that pitiful town. I don't need you and I don't need Konoha."

Naruto balled his fists in anger, nails biting into his palms hard enough to draw blood.

"Sasuke, what has Orochimaru done to you to make you so cold? You're a bigger bastard now than you ever were before!"

Kakashi watched the interaction carefully. Sasuke seemed to have no intention of fighting, but Naruto's aura was changing as his rising anger enveloped him. The masked man's fears were confirmed when cerulean eyes began to change colors, the pupils elongating to become catlike and the whiskered imprints on his face deepening. The demon within was awakening and they were in no position to deal with both Sasuke _and_ the Kyuubi.

The Uchiha also seemed to notice the transformation and looked at his former team mate with mild interest.

"Fighting you again would be interesting," he smirked. "But I'm afraid I haven't the time. I beat you before and I can beat you now, so don't do anything stupid, Dead Last."

Hearing his old nickname triggered something deep with the blonde shinobi, and with an angry cry, he lunged at the stoic Uchiha.

"Bastard or not, you're still my friend and if you won't come back on your own, I'll _make_ you!"

Sasuke already had his katana halfway unsheathed, preparing to engage the Kyuubi container in combat, but Kakashi was quicker, rushing up to the enraged blonde and delivering a blow to the back of his head. Naruto crumpled to the ground, unconscious and Kakashi breathed a quiet sigh of relief. It was better to knock him out now than to let him get to a point where the Kyuubi raged out of control.

Sasuke's dark eyes flicked from Naruto back to Kakashi and gave an amused "Hn."

"Don't make this difficult, Sasuke," the Copy nin said gravely, lifting his headband to uncover his own Sharingan eye. "Today, you're coming home with us."

The Uchiha chuckled again, a harsh sound that mirrored the cold look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry Kakashi-san, but that's where you're wrong."

With a flick of his wrist, a kunai whizzed through the air, embedding itself deep in the flesh of Sai's right thigh. Kakashi's Sharingan saw it happen, but the artist was too far to the side for him to intercept the blade.

It wasn't a killing blow and Sasuke hadn't meant for it to be, but as Kakashi dashed to aid his wounded team mate, the Uchiha turned and fled into the woods.

Sakura knew she should tend to Sai. She was the team's medic after all, but she couldn't stand by and watch Sasuke disappear from her life again. She dropped the bodies she was carrying like sacks of grain, and began to follow him as fast as her limbs would carry her, bounding into the trees and leaping from branch to branch. She had to catch him, she _had _too!

She pursued him until her lungs burned and she couldn't gulp in oxygen fast enough, but no matter how hard she ran, Sasuke's form kept growing smaller and smaller ahead of her, until she couldn't even see him in the dappled light of the forest canopy, but still she ran on, forcing her legs to work until her muscles screamed.

She couldn't sense his chakra, couldn't tell which way he had gone, but she kept on running, thinking that even if there was the smallest chance of finding him, she would take it.

Tears welled in her eyes, blurring her vision and making bounding through the trees increasingly difficult until she lost her footing on a slippery branch and tumbled to the forest floor. A sickening crack pierced the air as she landed on her foot at a peculiar angle. She knew immediately by the incredible pain that flared up her leg that her ankle joint was broken.

He was gone. Once again they had been given a chance to bring him home and once again they had failed. Sasuke was gone again.

Alone in the forest, she allowed herself to do something she hadn't done in years. She began to sob, tears flowing down her face in an uncontrollable torrent, not because of the pain in her ankle, but the pain in her heart. Sasuke, the man she had cared so deeply for, had murdered fellow Konoha shinobi without a second thought, but that wasn't even the worst of it. It was that look he had given her, the cold, indifferent look as if he didn't even know her at all, as if they hadn't shared blood and sweat for years under Kakashi's tutelage.

He may have been able to kill those ANBU members with one glance of his Sharingan, but that other look of his was just as deadly. A piece of her had died when he looked at her like that, the piece that had stubbornly had faith in him for so long despite everything he had done.

If looks could kill, she would be dead by now, and as Sakura lay sobbing in the moss and dirt, fallen leaves clinging to tangled pink hair, she wondered why she was still breathing.


	22. Converge :NarutoHinataOthers:

Despite school work galore, I bring you another drabble. It's short, but I hope it is enjoyed anyway.

XXXXX

Conspiracy

Initially, it had all been Ino's idea to get the two together by less-than-conventional means, but it hadn't taken much persuasion to get Sakura, Shikamaru and Iruka-sensei in on it as well. They too were tired of Naruto remaining oblivious while Hinata obviously pined for him. With the four of them working together, devising a plan was easy.

When Iruka asked Naruto and Shikamaru requested that Hinata come to the academy to demonstrate some techniques, they never once suspected anything was amiss. When they were both asked to fetch extra kunai from the storage room when there seemed to be more than enough for the class already, they still didn't think twice about it, although Hinata almost dropped her box of sharp weapons in surprise when her crush entered the room after her.

It wasn't until the door suddenly slammed shut and the lights flickered out, leaving them in total darkness, did they realize they had been set up, the chakra seal on the door proving this was nothing so innocent as a lock malfunction.

The four didn't know Hinata's activated Byakugan revealed them exchanging high fives a few rooms over, revealing them as the perpetrators of the crime, but it seemed whatever grudges the captured couple had for them were overlooked. Nobody could be sure what happened during the forty minutes they were locked in the supply room, for neither of them would talk much about it even when pressed, but something had obviously gone right. From that day on, they were Konoha's newest and most sickeningly adorable couple.

Sometimes, Ino smiled as she watched them hold hands shyly in public.

"Damn I'm good," she would say while Shikamaru rolled his eyes, and Sakura had to admit, their collaboration on getting the two to converge had been quite successful.


	23. Generic :NejiTenten:

Hello all. I bring you another drabble since these only take half an hour to write unlike a full Stripped Bare chapter which takes weeks and my school schedule is definitely not allowing that right now. This is all Neji/Tenten fluff and is so sugary sweet, you just might get a cavity. Please enjoy.

XXXXX

Anything but Ordinary

Ever since her academy days, she had felt like she lacked any special qualities that set her apart from all the other aspiring shinobi. She had no bloodline limit, nor did she excel at certain elemental jutsu. She had taken well to weapons training, and had focused on honing her skills with almost every sharp object she came across, but she still felt like she was substandard, like she could be easily replaced by someone with secret techniques or other coveted abilities.

Her own team captain fawned endlessly over the student he had cultivated since their first meeting, and while it gave her hope that her chakra-lacking teammate had become so extraordinary through no other means than hard work, it only made her feel more mundane in comparison. She didn't particularly excel in taijutsu or chakra control, nor did her family have an alliance with wild creatures that would come to her aid in battle. She could simply throw a kunai better than most, but deep down she felt that anyone could acquire the same skill if they put their mind to it, but most had never needed to, for thy could rely on other powers, but for her, her weapons and the scroll that summoned them was all she had.

For years she had kept her smile firmly in place, never wanting anyone to know that all the confidence she exuded was a façade, that underneath the show of flashing steel she always put on, there was nothing there but an ordinary girl. She didn't want anyone to know she was scared to death of becoming obsolete, that even successfully completed missions brought her little joy because she always wondered when the assignments would stop coming, given instead to someone who could carry them out better.

She had continued on, trying to be brave and pretending to be proud until one day while training on her own, she found she couldn't do it anymore. She wasn't strong and she had never believed she was, and at last she succumbed to all the self pity she had refused to acknowledge, coming forth like a flood from a broken dam until she was so overcome that she dropped to her knees, sobbing softly as she released the shuriken she had not yet thrown, letting it tumble into the dirt.

So engrossed was she in her tide of tears that she did not feel him approach. She didn't even know he was there until a pair of strong, warm arms surrounded her, and a sculpted torso pressed to her back, Silky strands of long, brown hair spilled over her shoulder and she knew the man embracing her had to be Neji.

He said nothing, strong in his silence as always. He didn't chastise her for showing weakness in her tears or demand an explanation for her current state. He just held her and let her cry until she had no more tears left to shed and her body was exhausted by shuddering sobs. He knelt in the dirt along with her, head so close to hers that she could feel him exhale on the bare skin of her neck. She had to tell someone how she felt about herself, because the burden was too much to bear alone. She didn't want to keep pretending without someone knowing the truth.

"There's nothing special about me," she whispered, her breath hitching as the last of her sobs subsided. "I'm generic, ordinary…"

She trailed off when the hands around her waist slipped free, trailing down her arms to intertwine his fingers with hers, not seeming to care that she was slightly dirty from training.

"I've known you for most of my life," he whispered, his voice smooth and low and holding an honesty that she had never heard from him before. "And I've never once thought of you as ordinary."

"But I have no bloodline limits or special skills," she whimpered pitifully, not quite ready to be roused from her melancholy. "You have the Byakugan, Lee has his taijutsu…"

"Idiot," he murmured warmly against her ear. "Do you really think those things shape who you are? Having all the special jutsu in the world wouldn't change who you are, Tenten."

When the heat of his body left her as he rose, she found herself missing it immediately, but she was surprised when he circled around and crouched down in front of her, gently taking her chin in his hand and brushing away the lingering tear on her cheek with his thumb.

"But Neji—" she began, but he cut her off in a way she never would have expected in a thousand years. He pressed his lips to hers in a chaste, but incredibly tender kiss.

Her brown eyes were wide, like a frightened doe's when he pulled away and he blushed slightly, apologizing for his forwardness.

"But don't you see?" he added. "I wouldn't have kissed just anyone. I was saving my first kiss for someone very special. I was saving it for you, and have been for a long time. Whether you return my feelings or not, just know, you couldn't be an ordinary girl if you tried, so don't ever think that you are."

Tenten could only sit in stunned silence, too moved by his words to respond. He had always been so…detached from her, warm, but detached, and the fact that he was saying all this now while she was in a state of emotional imbalance made it even harder to take in. But she didn't push him away when he pulled her in for another embrace and when he asked if they could try being more than just friends and take everything slow, she nodded mutely.

XXXXX

In public, their relationship didn't seem to change much, which was understandable considering Neji's strict upbringing and the fact they still had to keep up appearances of being a functioning team. He didn't hide the fact that they were dating, but he was hardly as gushy as Lee, who shouted joyous nonsense about "the wonders of finding love in the springtime of youth" when he found out they had become a couple.

But even in the presence of others, he gave her warm glances and tiny smiles that she knew he never gave anyone else, and when they were alone, he was more affectionate than she could have ever imagined, holding her close as if he couldn't get enough of her, and running his fingers through her endlessly long hair when he could convince her to take it out of the customary twin buns.

He whispered that she was irreplaceable, for no one would ever fit in his arms the way she did, or smile her smile or laugh her laugh. He listed endless, petty details about her, some that she even disliked about herself but he insisted that he wouldn't change a single one of them, for he wanted her just as she was.

After a while, that gnawing ach inside that came with feeling substandard began to diminish until it was gone all together. No longer did she feel useless and unimportant, for every moment she spent with Neji was a moment that reminded her that yes, somebody _did_ want her just the way she was, and Neji certainly wasn't the type to settle for a generic, cookie-cutter girl. He wanted _her_, even if she could do nothing but use weapons when they sparred. Tenten was no longer bothered by that either, for she found that even with all his jutsu and abilities, sometimes, she could still beat him.

XXXXX

Thanks for reading. I really love the fans who have told me they'll read anything I put out. It always amazes me that you guys read my silly little drabbles, even when there's no promise of smut. Thank you for all the support everyone!

J-Pop


	24. Backstory :KakashiSakura:

This was a drabble I hurriedly wrote for a contest and is obviously not my best work, however, it's my first attempt at writing from a first person perspective and trying to write something AU. It's nothing mind blowing, but I'll post it here anyway.

* * *

Just One Night?

I awoke with a start, realizing immediately that I was not lying in my own bed. The sheets were too silky and soft to be mine and smelled different too, woodsy and earthy rather than the floral scent that always clings to everything I wash with my scented fabric softener.

I noticed soon thereafter that I was not alone, for a warm body was pressed behind me, even breath stirring the hairs at the nape of my neck and a long fingered hand splayed possessively over my bare stomach.

Oh god, I was naked under these sheets wasn't I?

Considering I could see my panties hanging haphazardly off a chair across the room, I was going to assume the answer was yes.

I took in my surroundings as the memories came flooding back and felt myself grow warm with embarrassment. How the hell had I let him talk me into sleeping with him? I knew I was gullible and naïve at times but this was on a whole new level. However, I couldn't bring myself to regret it for even a moment.

He had been good in many senses of the word, both in bed and out of it. He was smooth and sophisticated and charming. He knew just what to say to make me laugh and bring down my guard. I wondered if I was really that easy to read of if he had just perfected the art of seducing women. Oh boy, did he ever seduce me! I was lost from the very first kiss, and then his hands were suddenly everywhere at once, making me want things I hadn't even known existed, and his tongue…

I supposed I was getting a little ahead of myself. I needed to figure out what to do next to get out of the precarious situation of winding up in bed with a man I had only just met, but I wanted to think through the back story of what had happened one more time.

This could probably all be blamed on my best friend, Ino. She's absolutely beautiful and standing next to her often makes me feel substandard, but I love her to death anyway. She's taller than me with long blonde hair and an affinity for the color purple, and has the magical ability to draw the attention of every guy in a room, hypnotizing them in seconds so that they'll do anything she asks at the snap of her fingers. I, on the other hand, have a harder time opening up, preferring to stick to reading about other people's far more interesting lives in books. I only command attention when I get angry and explode, causing a scene in public like I am sometimes known to do, or when I do something awkward and unsightly, which, of course, _everyone _notices. Between the pink hair and annoying tendency to clam up around anything male that hasn't been my friend for a long time, it's no surprise to me that I'm chronically single and haven't had so much as a kiss from a guy, well…at least until last night.

Ino had insisted we go to a party even though she knows parties aren't really my thing. Having just graduated high school, she couldn't wait to get out there and mingle with the older guys she longed for. I suppose she had grown tired of dating men her age and since she had a new toy almost every week, I wouldn't be surprised to hear she had given every man in town a test run and found them all lacking.

The thing about Ino is she's not exactly abstinent, and hasn't been since she was sixteen. I on the other hand am too shy, too scared and too damn horrible at talking to men other than the occasional hurling of insults and knuckle sandwiches to ever get laid, or at least that's what I thought.

The party was relaxed enough, for it seemed it was not only collage aged people but others as well. It was at an apartment complex and while it was practically packed with people, it seemed to be more of a social gathering than a real party, with people hanging out in mostly jeans and T-shirts but certainly nothing fancy which was a relief. I don't think I could have handled being socially awkward _and _underdressed in denim shorts, a T-shirt and flip flops.

There was drinking but none of the usual unruly behavior that came with ingesting alcohol. Many of the people had already graduated college and were huddled around, talking about lofty ideals that I couldn't really comprehend. Ino mingled immediately, acting every bit the mature adult as she worked her way seamlessly into a conversation with a very attractive man who took the stir stick from his drink and chewed it thoughtfully as she talked. He had brown hair and deeper brown eyes and though he let his eyes wander her form once, they fixed on her face as she talked and seemed genuinely interested in what she had to say.

I sighed forlornly, finding a chair next to the snack table and resigned myself to munching on tortilla chips the rest of the night, hoping Ino might come back to rescue me sooner rather than later, but knowing her, I would have to forcefully drag her away if I wanted to leave within the next few hours.

People passed by the snack table, coming and going and grabbing handfuls of chips and candy, but they never tried to talk to me, that is until a tall, lanky man sat down in a chair next to me, stretching lazily before frowning.

"Hmm, I thought these chairs would be incredibly comfortable, but it seems I was mistaken."

After a moment of him looking at me expectantly, I realized he wanted me to respond.

"Um…oh," I said lamely. Brilliant. Great way to start a conversation, Sakura.

But instead of rolling his eyes or ignoring me, he smiled. At least, I think he smiled. The bottom half of his face was hidden by a navy blue scarf he had coiled around his neck. It struck me as strange because it wasn't even that cold outside.

"Why did you think the chairs would be comfortable?" I tried again, hoping to have a normal conversation with a new person for once.

His smile deepened, showing in his eyes which I realized were in fact two different colors. One was so dark brown it looked almost black and the other was nearly mahogany, looking more reddish in the current lighting. I had never seen eyes that color before.

"Because you haven't moved an inch from your chair since you first sat down. I assumed it was because these chairs were insanely comfortable, but now I see that isn't the case."

The fact that he had been watching me without my knowing was a little weird, especially since I wasn't use to having attention. Not knowing what to say, a stuffed a handful of tortilla chips in my mouth, but the action only produced a chuckle from him.

"You don't talk much, do you?" he smirked. The action showed in his eyes rather than his face. I was curious as to why he kept himself covered but didn't both to ask.

"No, not usually," I replied through a mouthful of chips, feeling less eloquent by the minute. This guy had actually given me the time of day, and from what I could tell, actually wasn't so bad looking. So why couldn't I stop acting stupid for once?

He offered a hand warmly, and after a moment of staring at it stupidly, I realized he wanted me to shake it.

"Kakashi Hatake," he said. "I'm a friend of Genma's back when we were in college together.

The fact that he had already graduated when I hadn't even started my freshmen year only made me feel even more immature. It didn't help that I offered him my own hand that was covered in residual salt from my chips, like a messy child who didn't know how to clean up after herself.

However, Kakashi didn't seem to mind and shook my hand as I introduced myself shyly.

"Sakura Haruno. I came here with a friend and don't know anybody."

His handshake as warm and strong, his large hand dwarfing mine, but despite his height, he wasn't at all brutish considering his long, lithe body type. It had been the first time in a long time that I had been touched by a man besides a hug from some of my male friends. When his hand dropped mine, I realized my palm was tingling and still awash with the heat of his grip. I tried to ignore the feeling as he continued to look at me, even when my eyes looked away when my shyness got the best of me.

"Sakura…" he pondered, turning my name over as if getting used to it rolling off his tongue.

"It's cheesy, I know," I said, feeling self conscious. "My parents were kinda—"

"It's perfect," he said firmly. "It suits you, especially with your hair. Is that your natural color?"

"Yeah," I sighed, tugging at a short piece absentmindedly. "I hate it."

"Don't," he said sincerely, placing a gentle hand on my arm, nearly making me jump at the contact. "It's quite beautiful and goes well with your eyes. It makes you memorable."

His touch elicited more tingles but he had moved away before I could even register it fully, settling back in his chair to look at me thoughtfully.

I hardly ever got compliments so I didn't really know how to receive them. I didn't really like talking about myself and decided instead to change subjects.

"So you said you were friends with Genma?" I said shyly, hating that I couldn't just relax and talk like a normal person. "Which one is he?"

He pointed at the tall man that was still chatting up Ino, stir stick pocking out the corner of his mouth.

"That's him. This is his apartment."

"Oh," I said. "It figures Ino would talk up the host. She's always expanding her partying network."

"Ino?" Kakashi asked, taking a drink of the beer in his hand. When did _that_ get there? He tugged down his scarf just enough to take a sip, the plastic cup hiding his face until the fabric was back in his place. I kept trying to get a glimpse but it seemed he had mastered keeping his face obscured.

"The friend I came with. It's hard to compete with her when she's so social and pretty. I don't know why she always brings me to these things."

Kakashi looked at Ino for a long time, eyes seeming to appraise her before shifting his focus back to me.

"I like you better," he declared. "I bet you have more substance than she does. She seems like the type that does nothing but flirt, spending all her energy on getting a guy just to dismiss him a few days later."

I opened my mouth to speak but then shut it again. He was dead on in describing her and he hadn't even talked with her.

"And besides," he added, his eyes lighting up in a smile again. "You're more exotic."

I nearly chocked on the chip I was biting into. Exotic? Nobody had ever called me beautiful, much less exotic in my whole life, and this guy had already called me both.

It was another compliment I didn't know how to respond to, so once again I switched the subject off of me.

"So you're a college graduate? What was your major?"

"English," he said before taking another sip of his beer.

English? I had expected psychology or philosophy but not English.

"Oh…" I muttered, dropping my gaze to my salty hands. "So…now what do you do."

"I'm an editor for books," he said casually and I wondered if he knew he was piquing my interest.

"Really? What kind of books?"

I liked reading and wondered if maybe he had worked on something I knew.

"The dirty kind," he grinned, eyes crinkling mischievously. "The company I work for publishes a variety of erotica."

"I…um…that's…" I stuttered, feeling a blush stain my cheeks as I looked up in surprise. Why was I acting like such a baby? Ino had teased me before that anything sex related immediately sent me into hiding like a turtle withdrawing into its shell, and it appeared she was right.

"Not your choice of reading material?" he asked, aware of my blush and clearly amused.

"So what about you then? What do you read? And what are you majoring in? You haven't graduated yet, right?"

"Well…" I began with the uneasy feeling that I was about to totally embarrass myself when he found out how young I was. "I read pretty much anything…except what you do…and I don't know what I'm majoring in yet. I'm considering medical school but that will b a ways off since I'm starting college in the fall."

He looked at me a moment, that calculating look on his face again.

"So, you just graduated high school?"

He sounded a little surprised and for some reason, I was mortified.

"Yeah," I muttered looking away again. "I just graduated this June two months after I turned eighteen."

"I see," he said, seeming to sound even more interested for some reason now that he knew how young I was. "You seem older."

"I get that a lot," I admitted, having heard on numerous occasions that I acted more mature than most people my age, although that didn't stop me from feeling like a foolish child whenever I was around others.

We talked until I forgot to keep looking at the clock on the wall over his head and I found myself actually having a good time. People bustled all around us but I didn't notice any of it. Kakashi seemed sincere and as interested in me as I was in him. He was intellectual but not stuffy or arrogant. I learned that he already had his masters degree and was thirty two, almost double my age, but he didn't seem like it. He had a youthful energy about him like he was still in the midst of his college years but the way he talked about becoming friends with Genma gave him away. He had seen and done too many things to be in his early or mid thirties.

"So, he dragged you to a party just like this?" I smiled, finding it funny that Kakashi had been in my position at one point.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "I would have rather spent the night at home with a book but he would never let me stay in when there was a party. I would go and not talk to anybody at first. In fact, I was a lot like you?"

"Me?" I said incredulously. "But you came up and started talking to me. _You_ were the one that was social."

He shrugged.

"People change," he said, leaning in with his elbows resting comfortably on his knees. "Maybe one day you'll be able to start a conversation or two yourself."

I giggled softly and hoped he was right. It would be nice to not be so socially inept and seeing him gave me hope. He was just about to talk again when someone turned on the stereo, blasting music too loud to talk over without shouting. It appeared the party was about to get a little rowdier after all.

"Wanna go somewhere else?" he said, bringing his mouth close to my ear so I could hear him. His warm breath made me want to shiver and I fought back the temptation as I nodded, gasping softly as he took my hand in his and led me out of the crowded apartment and into the hallway where we could talk normally again.

"My apartment is on the next floor," he said, dropping my hand. "Feel like hanging out a bit longer?"

At mention of his apartment, something inside me warned me not to go. I had only just met this guy and if we were to be alone, nobody would be around to rescue me if I got into trouble.

"Sure," I replied, my mouth speaking without asking my brain permission first and allowed him to lead the way to the stairs.

Talking with him seemed to get easier with every passing minute. He was easygoing and had interesting things to say that fed the fuel of our conversation. Somewhere along the line I had stopped being so concerned about making sure that what I was saying was equally interesting. The more we talked, the more my curiosity about him grew, for why would a seemingly attractive man keep his face covered? I didn't have the courage to ask him just yet, for the subject still seemed taboo after knowing him for such a short time. Instead we talked about school experiences I discovered that he really had been an introvert like me. If meeting Genma was enough to being him out of his shell then maybe there was hope that Ino would finally transform me into a social butterfly, although I personally couldn't see myself as anything but am ugly caterpillar, reluctant to show her true face.

His apartment was on the floor above Genma's and from the place in front of his door, I could actually hear the steady bass thumping through the floorboards.

"Won't the neighbors complain?" I asked as he fished a key out of his pants pocket and unlocked the door.

"Probably," Kakashi chuckled, motioning for her to go inside before stepping in after her and flipping a switch on the wall. "But that's not our problem anymore."

I immediately noticed that, though Genma and Kakashi's apartments were identical floor plans, this one was a lot more spacious, probably because it wasn't filled with people.

The walls were white and furniture was scarce, a sofa, coffee table, and TV occupying the living room that was attached to a small kitchen. A small hallway branched off the other end of the room with one door that she assumed to be a bathroom, and the door at the end which had to be his bedroom. There was one poster on the wall of a beer advertisement that was unusually abstract and artfully done. His kitchen looked clean except for a single plate in the sink and a slightly wilted potted plant sat in the kitchen window.

This was definitely a bachelor pad alright, and though it was clean and quite livable, it felt a little lonely.

"Do you want anything to drink?" Kakashi asked, leaving my side and walking into the kitchen to rummage around in the fridge for another beer.

"No thanks," I said, the awkward feeling suddenly returning as I found myself alone with him in his home. Didn't people always warn against doing things like this? What if he was a psycho or a murderer? He could do anything he wanted with me here and nobody would know. I hadn't even told Ino where I had gone.

Yet somehow, something about Kakashi put me at ease. While he was certainly a little eccentric, I didn't think he was the murdering type.

He returned and motioned for me to sit on the couch. He sat down next to me, just far enough away so that out bodies didn't touch. The upholstery was tan colored and soft like suede and made me want to snuggle into it but I refrained, not wanting to look like a child.

"So, eighteen, huh?" he said, looking at me again with mismatched eyes.

"Yeah, you must think I'm just a baby if you've already graduated with you masters."

Kakashi shook his head, his eyes crinkling with his unseen smile that assured me that wasn't the case.

"No, actually. I would have guessed you to be older. Besides, age is hardly a good attribute to judge a person's character by. If you ask me, age is all relative."

He popped the tab on his can of beer and was about to drink it before seeming to remember something. To my surprise and delight, he unwound the scarf from around his head, revealing a strong jaw line, clear skin and a long scar down his left cheek.

I must have been staring because he smiled, revealing white, even teeth and proving that he was indeed quite handsome.

"Should I take a picture for you?"

His comment snapped me out of my daze and I felt my cheeks heat again, feeling like a stupid girl with a crush.

"No…it's just that…well…you had it covered and it made me curious, so I wanted to see…and…"

He chuckled again, nodding in understanding.

"I have that effect on people I guess. If I were to walk into a room without the scarf, I'm sure people wouldn't give me a second thought, but when my face is covered, people start to take interest."

"Why do you wear it?" I asked as he laid the navy material on the coffee table's glass top.

"Well at first," he said, reaching for his beer again. "It was because of my scar. I was really self conscious about it. But then I started to see how people react to you when your face is covered, especially women, and it kind of fascinated me so I just kept on doing it."

"Oh," I said, thinking that he definitely should have majored in psychology. He seemed to enjoy picking at people's brains.

His apartment was deadly quiet except for the hum of the refrigerator and the soft throb of the music from below. He sipped at his beer while I worked up the courage to ask him another question.

"So…how did you get that scar?"

I had expected it to be a sensitive subject but he just smiled again.

"When I was fourteen I loved riding my bike. One day I had a nasty spill and had a head on collision with a sharp rock in the dirt."

For some reason I had imagined the scar to be caused by something more exciting, but the truth completely unraveled the mystery surrounding him and I couldn't help but smile at being fascinated by something so mundane.

"Hoping for a better story?" he said, sensing my amusement.

"Maybe," I giggled. "You could have at least made something up that sounded really cool."

Kakashi chuckled, winking at me mirthfully.

"How do you know that _was_ the truth?"

I couldn't help from laughing out loud, swatting at him playfully, my hands landed against rock solid muscle almost wiping the smile completely off my face. He was so skinny. How was it he was so toned?

"Don't start a fight with me," Kakashi smirked, an expression that looking exceedingly attractive on his features. "I guarantee I'll win. I work out six days a week."

"Wow," I murmured, feeling a little out of shape in comparison considering the only working out I did was walking to the park every now and then to read a book. Thank goodness for good genes and a fast metabolism.

I looked down from his face to realize my hand was still on my chest and I whipped it away as if I had been burned.

"Sorry…I didn't mean…"

My face was starting to heat up again and I knew I must be blushing terribly.

"Sakura," he said gently. "It's fine."

I nodded but didn't say anything, looking at the coffee table as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

"You know, you don't have to be so timid with me," he said, bumping my shoulder lightly with his.

"I know," I sighed, risking a peak at his face to find he was looking at me with a bemused expression. "But I can't help it."

"Apparently not, and it's adorable."

I flushed hotter at his words, certain that he was purposely trying to embarrass me now.

"Sakura, you say you've never read an erotica before?"

The question caught me totally off guard and left me struggling to form a sentence, my mouth opening and closing a few times like a fish out of water.

"O-of course not! Why would I?"

"I'm just curious," Kakashi said, his mouth quirking into another sexy grin. "As to what an innocent little thing like you does to blow off steam."

"W-what?" I stammered, sounding like an idiot as usual, scooting a little further away from him on the sofa..

I knew exactly what he was talking about, but I just couldn't believe I was hearing it. My blush had probably passed the state of red and moved into the purplish side of the color spectrum.

His grin widened at my reaction and he reached out towards me taking my hand in his.

"Come with me," he said softly, coaxing me up from my seat. "There's something I want you to see."

His voice wasn't demanding and the pull on my hand was weak enough that I could have broken out of his grip if I wanted to. He was giving me a choice, and I think that's the only reason I let him lead me down the hall into his bedroom, making one decision after another that could have landed me in a whole lot of trouble.

His bedroom was dark, but one flip of the switch revealed a king sized bed that took up most of the room. It was messy and unmade but gave a sort of charm to the place, betraying that Kakashi actually lived here and used this space. Everywhere else, was books. Three of the four walls had book cases, all filled to overflowing and additional stacks of books were piled around the bed. A small desk and chair occupied one corner but even the desk's surface was cluttered with books.

"Wow," I breathed, awed that anyone could have such an impressive personal library. I immediately forgot all my worries as I drank in the covers in every shape and size, hardback and paperback alike.

Kakashi walked forward and plucked a small, orange book from one of the piles and handed it to me. Its cover was plain and betrayed nothing and there wasn't even a summary on the inside cover.

"Here, you can borrow this. Read it. I think it would be good for someone like you."

A flipped it open to a random page ad began to skim the contents, feeling my blush heat all over again as I found myself reading one of the most graphic sex scenes I had ever laid eyes on.

I closed the book with a snap, probably looking more than a little scandalized but Kakashi just grinned impishly.

"I can tell an innocent girl when I see one," he chuckled. "Read that and educate yourself a bit. Maybe it will help you open up."

I caught on to his pun but didn't find it funny, rolling my eyes at him and trying to will my blush away.

"I'm not reading your written porn. I don't care if you edited it or not," I grumbled, before turning to examine a stack of books closer. It appeared that not all of them were erotica and some actually looked quite interesting.

"For a pervert, you sure do have good tastes in books," I remarked when I noticed he had several books by my favorite author. "Is it ok if I borrow some of these too?"

I heard him walk up behind me as he replied.

"If you do, you'll have to stay in touch so you can give them back. Are you sure you want to keep associating with an old letch like me?"

I straightened and turned around, still holding the orange jacketed vulgarity he had handed me.

"Well…you are a rather _interesting_ letch. I suppose I could stand you a while if it means getting to borrow some books."

I was kidding of course, for although I had only just met him, I actually rather liked Kakashi. He was unlike anyone I had ever met, a refreshing breath of air, and actually had the intellect to carry on a decent conversation that I was willing to partake in.

He smiled again but it was more sincere, the mischief draining out of it and I suddenly realized that he had drawn quite close to me.

"Sakura," he said softly. "I know we don't know each other well and I'm too old for you, but do you think this letch could steal…"

He was bending down towards me.

"…a…"

His hand came to my face gently, cupping my jaw and tilting me toward him.

"…kiss?"

His mismatched eyes were absolutely captivating and before I could stop myself, my lips parted in anticipation, inviting him to claim them.

He read my body language well and leaned in, pressing his lips to mine in a kiss that was warm and tender and let me tingling all over. This was how I had hoped my first kiss would be, soft and gentle, and though I had never really believed the silly tales about fireworks going off when a woman was kissed, the action did something indescribable to my body, making me very warm low in my belly.

When his lips left mine, I missed them immediately and tried to chase his escaping mouth, rising on tiptoe as he straightened.

"You're amazing," he breathed, apparently liking the contact as much as I had before gently taking the book from my hands and tossing it back onto a pile before enveloping me in his arms and kissing me again.

A tiny sound arose from the back of my throat and probably would have embarrassed me if Kakashi hadn't growled back in a way that sent delightful tingles along my spine. His tongue ran along my bottom lip and I gasped in surprise, giving him the opportunity needed to slip the wet muscle inside my mouth and tangle it with my own.

I was inexperienced in the art of kissing but Kakashi didn't seem to mind, holdng me tight to him as he explored my mouth hungrily. I couldn't believe this was happened. Not the girl who made out with random people she met at parties. That was more Ino's thing, but here I was, in a strange man's room letting him rob me of my fist kiss, and I was loving every moment of it. He was a damn good kisser.

I don't know when he started walking us back towards the bed, but suddenly I was toppling into silky gray sheets with him above me, our mouths never disengaging as he began to run his hands up under the fabric of my shirt, caressing my stomach and ribs.

I knew somewhere in my head that this was probably the worst idea I'd had tonight, but somehow, I couldn't make him stop, my body already hot as it responded to him eagerly as he inched my shirt higher and higher. Perhaps I had been celibate too damn long and my body was trying to tell me it was high time to do something about it.

His mouth pulled away only for a second as my shirt was suddenly over my head, but instead of being mad at him, I just clung to him like my life depended on it, seeking his mouth with increasing desperation as his hands began to wander over me.

He asked permission to remove my bra and I hardly thought about it, nodding breathlessly and thinking he could do whatever he wanted as long as he kept kissing me. And then his mouth was leaving mine and gliding over my neck to suckle at the newly exposed flesh, making me writhe and cry out as I discovered just how sensitive that part of my body was.

He continued his decent, dong away with my shorts and asking if he could strip away my underwear too, fingers playing teasingly in the worn elastic band. I found myself wishing I had worn something sexier to impress him but he didn't seem to care, staring at me with a captivated expression as he slid my panties off my legs and cast them away, drinking me in as if I was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

I had never felt so special, so sexy, but I did now as he marveled at my naked form. I knew this was going way to fast but it was so hard to think when I was flushed and feverish and the throb between my legs was nearly painful. I knew I was experiencing lust in the most primal sense, but I couldn't stop it. I found myself wanting this, even if I couldn't justify it.

And then his hands and mouth were on me, touching me everywhere at once and when he dipped his head between my legs, I thought I had died and gone to heaven, squirming and panting and making funny little noises that probably sounded stupid to anyone not caught in the moment. In was licking me _there_, where nobody should touch and although I half heartedly tried to shoo him away, claiming it was dirty, he would have none of it. It was almost as if he liked my taste, driving me closer and closer to the brink of insanity before finally sitting up and beginning to strip off his own clothes.

I could only watch in breathless adoration as he revealed his body to me, fully aware of what was about to happen but powerless to stop it. He leaned over me, a large hand playing with pink strands as he asked the million dollar question.

"Can I be your first?"

I nodded, not having the words to speak. I knew hewould make it good for me, and even though I barely knew him, I had a feeling that if I didn't take him up on his offer now, it could very well be a very long time before anyone took interest in me like this again.

He pulled out a condom from some unknown place and rolled down over his member, although I couldn't bring myself to watch, too embarrassed to look at his member even if I had just agreed to giving my virginity to him.

He kissed me as he eased inside me, slipping a hand between our bodies to play with my swollen pearl and ease the pain. He felt so big, but maybe that's because I was untouched, but when he began to rock his hips, the discomfort was replaced by the most incredible feeling I'd ever experienced in my life.

He moved slow, but deep, murmuring soothing words against my temple as he filled me again and again. I think I was crying his name but I wasn't sure. All I knew was his body inside mine, his hands and his mouth touching me in ways I couldn't explain, his eyes focused only on me. It was beautiful, magical, and suddenly it was too much and I was spiraling out of control, stars and colors blurring my vision until I couldn't breathe, and then it was over and he was pulling away just long enough to strip off the condom before returning to cover my body with his, cradling my shivering form as he rained down kisses on my face.

I clung to him until my heart stopped racing and I caught my breath again and he rolled us onto our sides.

"Sakura, you are amazing," he murmured against my ear and I hummed a sleeping reply, although I'm not sure what I said.

His arms were around me, warm and strong and as he pulled the covers up over us, I remembered thinking that maybe I should call Ino and let her know where I was, but then I was asleep and didn't have another conscious thought until awaking, still entangled in Kakashi's arms.

And now I was back where I had started with the dilemma of what to do now. I had been seduced out of my virginity and was now butt naked, tangled up with a thirty two year old man. Ino was going to flip when I told her! I was thinking about grabbing my phone and apologizing for not letting her know where I was but before I got very far, a husky voice whispered in my ear as the hand on my stomach began to stroke my skin with light touches.

"Good morning," he rasped and I couldn't help but smile. It felt so good to be the center of someone's world, even if this was just a temporary thing. I wasn't so naïve as to think this would last much longer.

"Hi," I whispered back, not sure how to go about gathering my clothes. It was so nice and warm in his bed that I didn't want to leave, and when he tugged me closer, I figured he didn't want me to go either.

"How does it feel, officially being a woman now, I mean?" he whispered against my neck as his hand dipped low to play with the pink curls at the apex of my thighs.

It was a weird thought to no longer be a virgin and I told him so. He apologized for being unable to control himself but I told him it was ok…which it was. I had wanted it badly and he had made my first time worthy of all the hype sex always got. My only regret was that after I left this apartment, it would probably never happen again."

"Listen, Sakura," he began, and I braced myself for it, for the explanation that this was a one night stand and that it was time for me to go, but what came out of his mouth was totally different.

"I know I'm kind of doing this out of order, and I know I must seem like an old man, but I was wondering if you'd like to go out sometime. You're an interesting person Sakura. I really want to get to know you better."

The words were something out of a fairy tale and so unbelievable that I twisted in his arms to look at him.

"Are you serious?"

He looked wounded for a moment but the wiped the look away.

"If you just wanted a good time and a man who could introduce you to sex, that's fine, but if you'll give me another shot at actually talking instead of losing myself and ravaging you, then I would be very honored."

"I…I would like that," I stammered, eyes full of surprise as he smiled and pulled me close for a moment, chin resting on the top of my head. I could feel his defined muscles pressing against me and felt warmth pulse through me again. In all actuality, I was expecting to wake up from this dream any second.

"We could both use a shower," he said, releasing me and rolling onto his back before turning to look at me with that familiar smirk. "Wanna join me?"

"Ok," I smiled nervously as he tossed off his covered and rose, heading towards the bathroom, not at all ashamed of his nakedness and this time, I allowed myself to peek and was not disappointed with what I saw.

"I'll be there in a sec," I called as I heard him crank on the water in the bathroom. Quickly I hoped out of bed and crabbed my phone out of my shorts pocket to text Ino. She was not going to believe what had happened.


	25. Smirk :SasukeSakura:

I bring you another drabble done for the narutocontest community over at livejournal. For more contest entries, look up naruto(underscore)contest at livejournaldotcom

* * *

Mouth Like a Magnet

His dark eyes were looking at her, slightly bemused and a little condescending, sizing her up. She couldn't help but wonder if he liked what he saw, if he found her worthy. She wished she didn't care what he thought but they both knew she did, that she had for years. She was loathe to admit it, but every time she saw those onyx eyes partially obscured by ebony hair, she couldn't hate him, even if her heart still bore the cracks from where she had pieced it back together after being shattered by his cruel words and abandonment of his team and home.

As captivating as his eyes were, it was his mouth that fascinated her, lips tugged to the side in a smirk that was confident and infuriating, but somehow always made her heart beat faster. She still loved him and he knew it, only now, he wasn't so inclined to call her annoying as he was to take advantage of her every now and then when it suited him. Years had passed and they had grown, but it appeared she still retained a part of the naïve little girl she had been, for here she was again, faced with those smirking lips that promised heat and desire, but came with a heart as cold as a kunai blade.

She accepted his outstretched hand and let him lead her back to his estate, knowing come morning, Sasuke would throw her out again as always until the next time his smirking lips needed a warm body to fill the void in his hallow life.

She liked to think she was saving him in a way, showing him warmth he needed even if he continued to cast her away. Sakura Haruno had always been too romantic for her own good.


	26. Delirium :KakashiIno:

Here's another drabble written for the weekly LJ contest. I'm not going to lie, this is a weird one.

Painkillers

Kakashi Hatake couldn't be sure what was real and what was not anymore. The medication that Tsunade had put him on was reported to have side effects of hallucinations and delirium, and it was just his luck that he should react unusually strongly to it. Perhaps this was divine retribution for trying to sneak out of the hospital so many times during his stay. Now that he was constantly feeling like he was seeing the world through a fun house mirror, he wasn't apt to get very far. The fact they had strapped him to the hospital bed might have been a factor in his recently compliant nature as well.

He had been lucky to escape with his life after facing one of Pein's many bodies in the recent Akatsuki attack. Many of his comrades had not fared so well. Though Konoha had survived, rebuilding what had been destroyed would take a while, and the same went for Kakashi's own body. His bones had mended for the most part, but even with the aid of Sakura's superior healing skills, the road to recovery would be long and painful.

That was what the medication was for, to help with the pain. He supposed it was working because he was so drugged up that he couldn't even feel his toes, let alone know if any pain existed in them. Every day was a surreal blur with passing moments of clarity and he longed to be lucid once more, not only so he could get the hell out of this hospital, but also so he could help rebuild Konoha. He also missed reading his Icha Icha.

He turned his head to gaze at the IV needed in his arm that slowly pumped the evil liquid into his veins. The bag of liquid pain killer sat on a pole by his bed, already half empty, and he watched in wonder as the tubing between the bag and his arm transformed into a thin snake, scales a vibrant yellow green that shimmered under the fluorescent lights as it slithered toward him, propelling itself forward to disappear into his arm, and distorting his flesh as it moved under his skin. He could feel it crawling, feel its cold scales against his sweating skin, feel it shifting and sliding just beneath the surface of his arm. It kept crawling and crawling, up his bicep, up his neck and along his cheek and he was sure it was going to take up residence in his brain while his hands were strapped to his sides, leaving him helpless to fight in his weakened condition.

But just as suddenly as the vision came, it was gone, leaving him alone once again in his room. He had dozens of hallucinations just like this every day. Sometimes they were frightening, sometimes they weren't. Sometimes they were haunting, the faces of the people he couldn't save coming back to revisit him, asking him why he didn't do more to help them when they needed him most.

There were times when he had woken up screaming or laughing, even his dreams providing no solace from his waking dementia. Sometimes, he was lucky enough to envision sexual fantasies, characters from Icha Icha coming to life right before his eyes. Once, he even saw Sakura before him, as naked as the day she was born and looking absolutely glorious as she took his vitals, wrote in his chart and then left. Later he had discovered that she had indeed been in his room doing all those things, only she had been dressed in her uniform at the time. His brain had merely made educated guesses as to what she would look like in the nude and even though it hadn't been his intention to be perverted, that image of her stayed in his mind even when he was thinking clearly.

Suddenly, the sliding door to his room opened, changing for a moment to a giant curtain of ramen noodles being eaten away by a hundred tiny, ravenous Narutos before the shaking of his head cleared the image away.

"Good evening Kakashi-san," came a pretty female voice, and Kakashi had to pull his eyes away from the fish swimming on the ceiling to look at his visitor. He couldn't trust his eyes anymore but it seemed that Ino Yamanaka had come to check on him, dressed like the other nurses in their crisp, white, button-up dresses, although Ino seemed to like to wear hers a little shorter and tighter than most.

"Hello Ino," he said, hoping he wasn't talking to illusions again. Both Naruto and Sakura had caught him having cordial conversations with the tree outside his window which he could have sworn it to be Iruka-sensei at the time.

"How are you tonight?" she asked as she took his pulse, placing two fingers on his wrist while watching the clock on the wall.

"I've been better," he admitted, discovering that the ceiling had shifted from a sea of fish to a sea of naked female bodies, all writhing and moaning as if in the middle of orgasm. "The IV turned into a snake today."

"Did it?" she asked, seeming not in the least bit surprised as she wrapped a cuff around his forearm to take his blood pressure. "What else did you see?"

Her bland response had become common among the nurses that saw him regularly. He had been hallucinating for over a week now and his bizarre stories had lost some of their shock value.

He continued to look at the ceiling, watching as a slender brunette began to go down on a rather busty red head, burying her face between her partner's legs and lapping furiously as the red haired woman let out a sensual moan of pleasure. Did Ino _really_ want to know what he was seeing?

"There's a lesbian orgy on my ceiling," he announced, eyes following the movements of a black haired girl straddling a petite blonde's face, grinding her hips as the girl below pleasured her with her tongue.

His statement made Ino pause, her pen poised on the paper mid sentence as she fixed him with turquoise eyes.

"Is that so?" she asked while Kakashi continued to watch the ceiling.

"Yes," he said, surveying the scene of a pair of twins engaged in the position he liked to call the sixty-nine. "I think it's because I can't read my Icha Icha. My brain is trying to compensate."

Even as he spoke, he could feel himself hardening inside his loose drawstring pants. The hospital had been kind enough to let him wear his traditional blank tank with attached mask instead of those horrendously flimsy paper gowns. His face was still covered and fortunately, his penis was too, although the growing tent in his pants was still quite noticeable.

"Do you think sexual depravity is causing your hallucinations?" Ino mused, setting down her clipboard and picking up a thermometer to stick under his tongue.

"Possibly…and I told Tsunade, I don't do thermometers."

"Ah," she said in understanding, realizing she would have to expose his face to get a reading. "Well, I could always stick this somewhere else."

"No," he answered pointedly, glancing back up at the ceiling to find his harem of women was gone. His erection however, was not.

"I'll tell you what," Ino said, putting her hands on her hips. "If I help you with your problem, will you let me take your temperature?"

Kakashi's eyes flicked back to her, suddenly intrigued.

"Are you going to read Icha Icha to me?" he asked hopefully, trying to ignore the parade of dancing clowns that had suddenly appeared behind her.

"No," she replied, her smile turning wicked. "I was thinking of a more…direct approach."

The clowns had finished their march and left for the day, but as soon as they were gone, he was sure another vision began, for Ino began to unbutton her uniform from top to bottom, revealing a lacy white bra and matching thong that made his cock twitch inside his pants.

This could _not_ be real.

"If I give you a little satisfaction, you'll give me a temperature reading. Deal?"

Ordinarily, Kakashi would have said hell no. Getting it on with girls who were barely legal wasn't really his thing. He preferred women who were at least a within a decade of his own age, but seeing those pale creamy breasts in that lacy push up bra certainly wasn't helping his erection, and besides, this certainly wasn't really happening anyway, so what did it matter. In all honesty, he was a little curious to see what his drugged brain was going to cook up.

"Alright, fine," he relented, watching as she shed her dress and walked over to the bed.

She leaned over him and pulled his cock, out of his pants, causing him to gasp. She certainly _felt_ real enough. He could feel her cool fingers wrap around the heated flesh of his shaft, pumping up and down slowly as she reached her other hand between her legs to rub her own sex.

Kakashi wasn't sure what to make of the fact that Ino seemed quite tangible as she began to jerk him off, but then again, giant trees had just begun to sprout out of the ground, growing almost instantaneously into a full grown forest before flickering out of existence. He supposed there were stranger things he could imagine than the attractive Yamanaka girl giving him a hand job.

"Mmm," she cooed apparently finding his aroused state satisfactory as she climbed onto the bed and straddled his hips. "It's been a while since I've had a man. It's a good thing we can help each other out like this, isn't it?"

He was about to correct her, telling her she had in fact suggested this so she could take his temperature but then she tugged the cups of her bra up, revealing rosy pink nipples and Kakashi decided his didn't care _what_ his delirium constructed as justification.

The blonde medic reached for his shaft with one hand while the other tugged the crotch of her panties to the side to reveal her clean shaven sex and pink, fleshy folds already glistening with arousal.

Without a word, she raised her hips and pushing them back down on his cock, impaling herself to the hilt.

Kakashi let out a sharp cry, not expecting his hallucination to feel so real. He could feel her pussy squeeze him as she began to bounce up and down, her hands cupping her own breasts to mold the soft globes into her palms while pinching erect nipples between her fingers. She was moaning softly, murmuring words about how hard he was and how good it felt having him inside her. Her pretty face was half obscured by the blonde bangs she always let hang in her face, but from what he could see, she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

She continued to fondle her own breasts, riding him with increasing enthusiasm. She felt hot and wet and tight around him, inner walls flexing with every thrust, and though it felt just as real as any other time he'd had sex, he still believed it to be an illusion, just like the countless eyes that had suddenly appeared on the walls, irises in assorted colors and sizes, all watching the pony-tailed woman ride Kakashi mercilessly while he was helplessly strapped to the bed.

A blink of his eyes made them go away, but Ino remained, flushed and needy and he let out a groan as he felt his own body prepare for release, already on the edge after not having sex for so long.

"Oh fuck," she chanted softly. "Oh fuck, oh fuck! Yes, Kakashi!"

Abandoning her breasts, she leaned forward, bracing her hands on his clothed chest to give herself leverage as she began to bounce even harder, slamming her hips down to make sure he thrust inside her as deep as possible.

"I'm going to come," she panted, gazing down at him heatedly, her eyes hazy turquoise slits half hidden by dark lashes. "Oh yes, I'm coming!"

Kakashi watched in aroused fascination as her back arched and her body shook. Her abdominal muscles contracted sharply, coinciding with the delicious sensation of her slick pussy clenching around him as she found her release. As she moaned, brightly colored flowers bloomed all over her, opening up as if greeting the morning sun. Pink petals emerged from her left nipple, a purple one at her throat, yellow on her stomach. Even her right eye was fertile ground for a large red flower.

And then he was coming, gritting his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut as he poured his seed into her in a several pulsations of pure ecstasy. When he opened his eyes again, the flowers were gone. The only thing left was Ino watching him with a very smug look on her face.

"That's just what the doctor ordered…for _both _of us," she sighed, leaning forward to tug town his mask. Before he could protest, her tongue was in his mouth, tangling with his and giving him a taste of the sweat of her skin and the sweet tang of her lip gloss.

She was pulling away before his lust hazed mind could register what was happening, bright eyes gazing at his face appreciatively before tugging his mask back over his face.

"I can see why you keep it covered," she noted as she rolled off of him, adjusting her bra and panties before tucking him back inside his pants. "A face like that would have every woman in Konoha all over you."

Kakashi tried to divide his attention between watching Ino get dressed and watching a giraffe eat the leaves off the tree outside his window. The medic walked to the door and gave him a wink before leaving with her clipboard, apparently taking the giraffe with her because when he looked again, the tall creature was gone. However, the orgy of women was back on the ceiling. It figured he wouldn't be able to cure illusions with more illusions, even if it had felt damn real. Come to think of it, the kunoichi had never taken his temperature. Apparently his imperfect psyche had forgotten that part of the deal before sending her away. Oh well.

He resigned himself to watching the writhing mass of feminine bodies above him, although after that last illusion, he wasn't so affected, manhood remaining soft after his recent, imagined activities.

XXXXX

Ino was walking briskly down the hall when she bumped into Sakura who was heading the way she had just come from.

"Hey Forehead, where are you off to?" the blonde asked.

"I was just going to check on Kakashi before my shift ends. I want to see how he's doing."

"Oh," Ino said with a smile, offering her the clipboard she carried. "I just came from there. Here's his chart. He seems fine but he's been having a lot of weird dreams. Your sensei sure is a pervert."

Sakura sighed with a shake of her head.

"The sooner he's off that pain killer, the better. He's been hallucinating so much lately that the poor man doesn't know what's real and what's not."

"Isn't that the truth?" Ino said with a smile.

The pink haired medic was just about to walk away when she stopped, looking at her friend carefully.

"Hey Pig, your uniform is crooked."

"What?" Ino said, looking down to see that her uniform was indeed buttoned askew. "Oh, silly me. I was in a rush this morning when I put it on. Thanks for telling me."

The two women parted ways, Sakura to visit her ex sensei, and Ino to the ladies room to fix both her uniform, and her panties that were now soaked through and sticky with cum. Perhaps it would be better to go without them for the rest of the day.


	27. Sex :SaiSakura:

Another dabble for the LJ naruto_contest community. The theme is "sex" which is ironic because this isn't really a lemon. Weird.

Was it Something I Said?

To say that Sai was puzzled was an understatement.

He had read in numerous books that sex was the ultimate form of communication, a joining of two bodies that bordered on almost magical. It had seemed the perfect way to forge stronger bonds with his female team mate.

He had asked her bluntly to partake in the act with him and she had reluctantly agreed instead of punching him into next week, much to his surprise, although he could have sworn he heard her muttering something about tiring of her perpetual celibacy.

Sex was indeed an amazing thing. She had been so warm and tight, her glorious body squeezing him in all the right ways as her mouth made the sweetest noises he had ever heard as he pushed into her again and again. His climax had been heavenly and he was fairly sure she had orgasmed as well, for she had looked quite satisfied, nestled in his sheets, cuddling closer to him.

The entire act had been rather nice and he hoped he could repeat it again with his pink haired partner some time soon, but he had training to do and couldn't very well waste the whole day in bed, nor could he let Sakura lounge about his house when he wasn't home.

He had merely asked her to get dressed and go, claiming he had things to do, and couldn't understand why she had looked at him so incredulously with an unmistakably wounded look in her eyes.

When she asked him what their coupling meant, he replied that it had been simply an act to improve their team work and nothing more. Only a split second of stunned silence followed before she delivered a stinging slap to his cheek before tearfully collecting her clothes, ranting something about men and how they often seemed incapable of love or thinking with anything but their cocks.

Sai hardly had the time to straighten out his confused feelings before she was haphazardly dressed and gone, slamming the door behind her.

He sat cross-legged on his bed, perplexed as to why sleeping with her for the sake of strengthening their team bond was such a bad thing. He had read that women could be extremely emotional when it came to sex. He hadn't meant to hurt her, but her ramblings about love made him wonder if what she was seeking in sex was different than his own. Love was still a mysterious emotion he hadn't quite figured out yet and so the true meaning behind her words was still unclear.

But one thing was for sure; women were certainly complicated creatures.


	28. Happiness :SaiSakura:

Whew, what a busy week. It was all I could do to get this drabble done. I'm working on Stripped Bare, really I am, but life keeps pulling me away from it. I hope to have the next chapter out before Christmas but I make no promises.

So in the meantime, enjoy some Sai/Sakura fluff.

A Lesson in Happiness

* * *

Sai had tried asking Sakura to describe the things known as "emotions". He found it odd that everyone around him seemed to feel anger, happiness, love and sorrow so easily when he struggled to even define them. However, the concepts were so abstract and foreign to him that no matter what vocabulary or analogies Sakura drew upon, he could never really understand what she was getting at.

It was during one of these conversations that Sakura finally got through to him.

Night had fallen over Konoha and the two of them had decided to spend it stargazing on top of the Hokage monument, Sai with his sketchbook at his side. He had seen Sakura's lips curve into a soft smile after seeing a shooting star streak across the sky and asked her what it meant. When she replied that the stars made her happy, he had simply stared at her blankly, clearly not comprehending.

"I don't understand how you don't know what happiness is. Everyone is happy at least _some_ of the time."

Sai continud to look at her quizzically.

"How can I know I'm happy if I don't know what happiness is?"

Sakura sighed and leaned back on her elbows, stretching out her legs in the cool grass.

"Well, what about your art?" she asked, nodding towards his sketchbook. "You like drawing don't you?"

Sai nodded.

"Then it makes you happy," she confirmed.

The artist however, still looked unconvinced.

Sakura sighed again and began to chew her lip thoughtfully as she tried to put her ideas into words.

"You feel happy on a beautiful day," she tried to explain. "When you can feel the sun on your face. You're happy when someone you've missed comes home from a mission or when someone you like gives you a kiss."

"Hmm," Sai pondered, setting down his sketchbook and drawing closer to the woman laying in the grass. "I've never had a kiss."

Before Sakura could protest, Sai had leaned down, brushing his lips against hers. She gasped and stilled, staying propped up on her elbows as his tongue glided over her bottom lip before pulling away.

"So, this is happiness?" Sai asked, looking down at Sakura who was wide eyed and still shocked by her teammate's actions.

"Y-you idiot," she stammered when she finally regained enough composer to speak, a blush spreading over her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. "You can't just go around kissing people."

"Why not?" Sai asked curiously. "Didn't it make you happy?"

Sakura's blush burned hotter. His lips _had_ felt quite nice, but she didn't approve of the way he had practically ambushed her mouth.

"Well…I…you shouldn't—"

"Perhaps you are still uncertain?" the artist asked, slinging a leg over her thighs so he was straddling her.

Sakura didn't have time to argue before his lips were on hers one again, more forceful this time as he warmed up to the idea of exploring her mouth. She felt a broad hand slide through her hair to cradle her head, supporting her weight in the awkward position she was lying in. His forearm braced himself as the grass as he hovered on his knees over her, teeth nibbling inquisitively at her lower lip before his tongue gently slid inside her mouth.

The kunoichi's eyes fluttered shut as he stroked his tongue against hers, his movements soft and gentle, almost inquisitive as he tasted her in what was almost certainly his first kiss. He was thorough in his exploration, kissing her deeply until she felt dizzy.

When he pulled away she was breathless and hungry for more, but he had moved away from her, resuming his cross-legged position beside her before she could pull him down for another kiss.

He picked up his sketchbook before turning to his teammate, his customary smile in place, only this time, it didn't look quite so fake.

"Thank you Sakura. I think I understand happiness a little better now."

"Oh, um…that's good," she replied, surprised at herself for not immediately pummeling him into the ground. Instead she touched her fingertips to her still tingling lips and looked over at the young man who had already gone back to drawing, wondering why her first kiss had been with Sai and why she couldn't bring herself to be angry about it.


	29. Eager :NejiSakura:

Hello everyone. I apologize for my absence. I had a bit of computer trouble that persisted the entire Christmas break. Fortunately I'm up and running again.

This short drabble is nothing but dirty dirty smut that has been stuck in my brain for a while now and is my first Neji/Sakura pairing. If that doesn't appeal to you, I suggest you leave now.

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Dirty Little Secret

Neji Hyuuga walked into the kunoichi's apartment, finding her just as he had left her three hours before when he had gone off for morning training. She was sweating, quivering, moaning clearly having enjoyed her time tied to her own dining room chair as he practiced at the training grounds.

He had found it harder than normal to concentrate on his jutsu, knowing the pink haired medic was waiting for him back at her place. His encounters with Sakura were always passion filled and deliciously erotic, for despite her seemingly straight laced exterior, Sakura had a secret kinky side that embraced highly experimental sex.

And that's why she let him tie her to a chair on this particular day off she had from the hospital, with a vibrator in her pussy, her ass and one taped in place over her clit. She was wearing nothing but a heated flush on her cheeks and the ropes that bound her wrists and legs to the arms of the chair. They weren't even chakra infused and she could have easily broken free with her superior strength, but Neji had warned her that if she tore through the ropes to pleasure herself before he returned, there would be severe punishment.

Sakura had only disobeyed him once before, out of sheer curiosity, wondering what punishment he could possibly have in store for her. She had removed a blindfold from her eyes when he specifically told her not to, only to find herself suddenly face down on the mattress while Neji spanked her while fucking her hard until both her pussy and her ass cheeks were a vibrant red.

However, his punishment hadn't stopped her from having two explosive, consecutive orgasms.

But today it seemed she had behaved herself, writhing as much as the ropes allowed. Her legs were draped over the arms of the chair, bent at the knee and tied down as well to give him an amazing view of the duel holes between her legs, both with thin, electrical cords leading out of them as the sleek, plastic ovals within buzzed merrily. He had used excessive tape to make sure the one over her clit stayed in place and it would probably sting when he ripped it off. Fortunately, she was clean shaven and the plentiful juices that had seeped from her pussy to run down her thighs had probably already loosened the tape a bit.

He said nothing, but simply regarded her a moment with pearly white eyes, drinking in her quivering form. He had set the vibrators to constantly vary their intensity via the small square dials attached to the opposite ends of the cords. At the moment, it looked like the one on her clit was buzzing so softly, it was barely making noise at all, while the muted drone from the one in her pussy was going full power and the one in her ass hummed at a speed somewhere in between.

She was panting, writhing, her skin glistening with a thin sheen of sweat and her short pink hair damp and sticking to her brow.

Neji thought she had never looked so wonderfully fuckable.

She gazed back at him with lust glazed eyes, her normally lucid orbs a darkened shade of jade. She licked dry lips and spoke, her voice breathy and broken and holding a hint of desperation.

"Neji, please…touch me."

The dark haired man didn't move, save for his lips quirking into a smug smile.

"Did you already come?" he asked, his voice made husky from the lust flaring in him at merely watching her.

"No," she moaned, straining weakly at her bonds. "But I'm so close. Please, Neji!"

Seeing such a normally strong and foreboding kunoichi reduced to a quivering heap by his hand boosted both his ego and his arousal. When with her, Neji allowed the dark beast within him to break free, the slightly sadistic animal that he kept locked away from his team and his family. Outside the bedroom, he was cool and level-headed, a model shinobi and an upstanding citizen. But here, in her apartment, he was a predator and she his prey and she submitted to him every time and exposed her own dirty secrets to him as he did to her.

He walked forward, slow and purposeful, shedding the gray skirt-like garment he wore over his white pants and shirt.

He knelt down in front of her splayed legs and allowed himself to examine her most intimate places, smirking at how her juices had made her thighs sticky and wet. He could hear the sound of the vibrators descend to a lower pitch as they slowed down inside her pussy and ass. She gave a frustrated moan at the loss of sensation but soon gasped as the one on her clit gained momentum, quivering with great intensity against the sensitive ball of flesh.

"You've been waiting for me to fuck you, haven't you."

It was a statement, not a question, and his dark accusation made something white hot flash low in Sakura's abdomen.

"Yes," she admitted breathlessly, knowing that he knew damn well that she had spent the last three hours anticipating being filled by his hard, thick cock.

"You dirty little thing," he chuckled, wrapping his fingers around the thin, white cord protruding from her pussy.

With one abrupt tug, he pulled the vibrator out of her, delighting in her surprised cry and smirked at the sight of the elliptically shaped toy shimmying on the end of its string, dripping with her liquid arousal. Her pussy was pink and swollen and dripping with her thick, sweet honey, the muscles within visibly contracting as it sought something to grip and pull deeper into her needy, eager womb.

"Look at this," he rasped as he straightened, holding up the soaked toy for her to see.

Her cheeks were already too flushed to reveal if she blushed further but he could see the embarrassment in her eyes. But she wouldn't turn away, for she knew he would grab her chin in his hand and force her to look.

"You're drenched," he practically sneered. "You must really want me to fuck you."

She licked her lips again, that lithe, pink tongue moistening petal-soft flesh. She was so damn sexy it hurt, and she was sexiest when under his control, when she submitted wholly.

"Tell me you want it," he commanded.

"I want you," she panted, still squirming in her chair from the stimulation she was receiving from the remaining two vibrators.

"You want me to what?"

"To fuck me."

"Louder," he smirked, loving how the dirty words rolled off her tongue.

"I want you to fuck me," she repeated, her voice louder and more desperate than before.

"I can't hear you," the Hyuuga chuckled.

"Neji, fuck me dammit!"

She was practically thrashing in her chair now, her need for him so great that she was mad with it.

Without another word he slipped a kunai out of a hidden holster and slashed through the ropes binding her. He plucked her from the chair effortlessly and sat her down on the nearby dining table, the remaining two vibrators still humming against her clit and deep within her ass.

He didn't bother with taking off his shirt or shoes. He didn't even take off his pants, but instead unzipped his fly and took out his length which was already rock hard and pulsing with the expectation of being lodged inside of her.

He aligned their bodies, making sure her legs were still spread wide so he could look down and watch his member disappear into her slick heat.

There was only a short pause and Sakura held her breath, waiting for the wonderful sensation of being penetrated.

And then he slammed his hips forward, sheathing himself in her tight liquid paradise with one hard thrust.

Neji ground out a low moan between clenched teeth and Sakura wailed like a cat in heat as her pussy clamped down on him as if it would never let him go.

The Hyuuga allowed himself a moment to catch his breath before raising his gaze from their joined bodied to her hazy eyes.

"No matter how many times I pound your sweet pussy, you're still so fucking tight," he panted, his voice almost reverent as he felt her flex around him.

She wriggled a little against him, trying to encourage him to move but a hand on her hip warned her that if she tried to take control, there would be consequences.

He could see it was killing her, being filled by him but having to remain still. She looked so cute, biting her lip against the sweet torture as his free hand found the controls for the toy in her ass, the small box dangling from the cord off the table's edge.

Without breaking their gaze, he flipped the switch from automatic to manual and slowly turned up the power until it was on its maximum setting. He could hear the whine of the toy rise in pitch as it trembled within her erratically. Sakura's eyes lost focus as she let out a pleasured cry and Neji had to bite back a moan of his own as he felt the vibrations shiver against his own cock through the thin membrane of Sakura's body.

"Fuck," he rasped. "I can feel it, Sakura. I can feel the vibe in your ass."

The kunoichi's head fell back limply as she tried to adjust to the feeling of being stretched wide by his member as the toy in her ass vibrated with unrelenting intensity. The muscles in her legs and abdomen jumped and quivered involuntarily as searing pleasure assaulted her, the vibe on her clit still humming at a moderate pace.

Suddenly, Neji was overcome with the burning impulse to kiss her. He dropped the toy's controls and slipped his hand behind her head, pulling her to him roughly as their mouth's met in a heated clashing of lips and teeth. Neji dominated her, controlling the kiss and stealing the breath from her lungs until they broke apart, panting heavily.

His opal eyes were as hazy and clouded as hers, and as she flexed around him again, squeezing him tight while the vibrator buzzed deep within, he knew he could hold back no longer. He released her head and hip, bracing his hands instead on the table as he began to thrust, hard and fast and deep without any warning at all.

Her hands flew to his shoulders, fisting in the pale material of his shirt as he slammed deep into her core with every thrust. Her feet were braced at the edge of the table, ensuring her pussy was spread wide should he want to looks down and admire the view of his cock penetrating her, but at the moment, he was more interested in her face. Every forward thrust extracted pleasured sobs and breathless pleas, and he thrived on every needy utterance of his name.

Sometimes when he was with her, he would encourage her broken moans by asking if she liked the way he was fucking her hard, if she liked how he felt inside of her, but at the moment, he couldn't seem to find the words as he pumped in and out of her with enough force to make the wooden table creak. The hours of teasing with the vibrators had made her wetter than he had ever felt her before and the sight of her needy and helpless and under his control was enough to wipe his mind clean of all other thought.

Hardly two minutes of pounding into her had her convulsing around him, her moans rising to screams as she reached climax in record time. He growled like an animal into the crook of her neck as he felt the telltale contractions of her pussy around his cock.

"Fuck yeah," he breathed, not slowing his thrusting hips in the slightest. He continued to piston in and out of her through her entire orgasm, watching her trembling form lustily as she came down from her first high and started preparing for a second.

"Neji," Sakura whimpered, the sensations starting to overwhelm her. "Oh god, Neji!"

The wet slurping sound of his cock impaling her soaking hole combined with the humming of dual vibrators and her impassioned moans made the most beautiful music Neji had ever heard. Her pussy rippling around him and the constant thrum of the plastic toy against his cock had him on the edge and he grit his teeth as he tried to hold back his own release and draw out this moment a little longer.

He could feel her growing tighter and tighter around him as an unbearable pressure built in his own loins. She was on the verge of cumming again and he didn't think he could withstand it this time.

The steady hum buzzing between them rose in pitch as the vibrator on her clit suddenly sped up, forcing a cry from the kunoichi's lips. Almost immediately after, she was falling apart beneath him, writhing and bucking as she reached her peak once more. Neji had to hold her by the hips to keep her still as he thrust into her a few more times, loving how feminine muscles squeezed him tight every time he tried to pull out. His eyes nearly crossed as the pressure in the twin sacks below his cock released, making him feel hot and dizzy as he emptied himself inside her, his grip on her so tight that he was surely leaving long, finger-shaped bruises on her pale skin.

She moaned heatedly, obviously feeling the hot gush of his seed inside her and he chuckled against her ear as they both struggled to catch their breath, slowly coming down from the pinnacle of pleasure together.

"Mmm, I love how dirty you are," he whispered hoarsely, still feeling her muscles occasionally jump and spasm due to the heightened sensitivity still present in the afterglow. The toys inside her continued to tremble, making her breath occasionally catch as the stimulated tender flesh until Neji reached between their bodies and switched them both off, finally allowing her relief from the constant stimulation she had felt for the past few hours

She said nothing, but wrapped her arms around him loosely, clasping them behind his neck. He pulled away to look at her, admiring her mussed hair and prevalent flush and the thoroughly satisfied smile on her face.

That smile was quickly wiped away though when his hand slipped to the apex of her parted thighs to grab the edge of the tape holding the now silenced vibrator to her clit. With a flick of his wrist he tore it away, extracting a started gasp at the flash of pain that came with having her skin pulled along with the tape.

"N-Neji?" she whimpered as he pulled out of her and bent down to spread her pussy lips wide, admiring her now swollen clit and her used hole that was slowly leaking his cum.

He watched the milky liquid drip from her with a smirk, finding the sight incredibly sexy. Sakura realized what he was looking at and tried to close her legs but he braced his hands on her inner thighs, forcing her to remain spread. He knew she was embarrassed, but somehow that made him want to look even more, watching the proof of their coupling ooze from her hole and onto the table.

She was still trying to catch her breath, and the overall effect of her labored breathing, spread pose and cum soaked hole made him hot all over again. His cock twitched as it began to harden once more. It appeared he wasn't done with her quite yet.

He lowered his face until his lips were hovering over her clit, letting his breath ghost over her and making her shiver. His tongue flicked over the hard bud and her whole body jerked, her flesh still highly sensitized.

"No! No more! I can't take it," she pleaded, green eyes wide and slightly panicked, but Neji just sneered, knowing that she would soon warm up to the idea just like she always did. Sakura could go all night if he wanted her too, for he had pushed her limits to there maximum more than once with sweaty boughts of marathon sex.

He pulled her clit into his mouth and began to suck, holding her down as she tried to wriggle away, ignoring her protests as he slid a finger into her core, finding her slick with their combined juices. Just as he'd predicted, her pleas to stop soon turned into heady moans, and she began to grind her hips against him heatedly. Neji chuckled from between her legs as he tapped his tongue over her little pink pearl.

There was no love between them but they were certainly lovers, finding solace in each other's touch. She craved his abuse just as much as he longed to abuse her, to fill her, to make her scream. No matter what he did to her, she always came back for more, eager to feel him inside of her, eager to pleasure him and be pleasured.

This was their dark secret, their escape from the cruel reality of the shinobi world, their outlet for forbidden desire and a way to live out vulgar fantasies that might repulse others. Alone, there would be no judgment or criticism, just raw sexuality.

His tongue ran the length of her slit, tasting the tang of both his cum and her own. She moaned in response and he smirked. There wasn't a woman alive as sexy and dirty as his little pink haired Sakura and he would make her his for as long as he could. As long as she kept coming to him, seeking to be dominated and fucked and pleasured, he would continue to oblige her, doing wicked, wonderfully things to her that would ensure she never forgot his touch or his name, Neji Hyuuga.


	30. Devil :KakashiSakura:

It's been a while since I wrote a drabble, but this plot bunny has been bouncing around in my had for a while. Be warned, Sakura is only seventeen here and there are sexual acts between her and an older man. If you don't like it, walk away now. You have been warned. Kay thanks bye.

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The Devil in Disguise

He was speaking, but she wasn't hearing a word he said, focusing in on the richness of his voice rather than the meaning of the sounds.

Rather than focusing on the chalkboard where he was identifying prepositional phrases and coordinating conjunctions, her emerald eyes were fixated to his very firm-looking posterior and she couldn't help but wonder how many hours outside the classroom he spent at the gym. Someone had told her that he was a freestyle runner, which would explain his deliciously sculpted physique, and she could imagine him leaping from rooftop to rooftop, rolling to his feet after every jump with all the graceful elegance of a cat.

But that wasn't the only thing she imagined when it came to the teacher of her high school English class.

Sakura Hurano had always been a little boy crazy, developing a new crush with every passing week. She even dated a few of them, and now that she was in high school, dating meant more than a movie and a chaste peck on the lips afterward. She had kissed many boys and had even allowed more than a few into her panties, although the experiences never seemed to measure up to all the hype associated with sex. However, she soon grew bored with each one and moved onto something better, and there was always a new boy waiting, for her crystalline green eyes, long legs, narrow waist and the shoulder length locks that she insisted on dying pink, made her one of the prettiest and most sought after girls in school.

But never had she become so infatuated with a man so much older than her. The first day of the new school year her jaw had practically dropped at the sight of her English teacher. Fresh out of college, he was in what she guessed to be his late twenties with a chiseled jaw line, a tall, lanky figure, and a pair of mismatched eyes, one brown and one so dark it almost looked black. He was charming and funny and seemed to be at least ten minutes late to his own class everyday, and even though Sakura hated English, she was finding that this year, it was her favorite class.

However, staring at Mr. Hatake's backside all period wasn't helping her grades at all. She was in serious danger of failing this class, having scored horribly low on every test. She needed a way to get her grades up and fast since the school year was almost at its end. However, the thought of studying made her cringe. She had no problem investing her time in math and science since she found the subjects infinitely interesting, but English had always been torturous. She hadn't actually failed a class before despite it being excruciatingly boring, and she had a feeling her teacher's alluring visage was somewhat to blame.

She had considered asking Mr. Hatake to let her wash his car, or even walk his dogs, which apparently he had several of, if it meant letting her pass the class. However, her gossiping blonde of a best friend Ino had divulged a piece of information that sent the wheels in her head turning, bringing out a darker and decidedly devilish side of Sakura's character.

Apparently, Ino had caught Hatake in his car during lunch, eating a turkey sandwich and reading a notoriously dirty romance novel so graphic that when students had been caught reading it on campus, it had been confiscated by the faculty with the reasoning that the books were no better than pornography.

It was then that Sakura had contemplated using her teacher's dirty streak to her benefit.

At first, she had been shocked by the idea that formed. It was true that she had already spent a lot of time fantasizing about her fourth period teacher, imagining what it would be like to fool around with an older man, but she had never seriously considered pursuing it. However, with her grades in jeopardy, she found herself contemplating making a deal with the lean-bodied man, and today she was finally ready to put her plan into action. She knew it was risky, for not only could he turn her down and not raise her grade to passing, he could send her to the principle's office where she would be shamed and perhaps even expelled. Even the possible consequences couldn't deter her, for she didn't see another option available to her and decided to take the chance. In the process, she might be able to sate her own carnal desires in a way that none of the young males in her bed had been able to do.

The bell rang, signifying the end of the period and the students, who had already packed up five minutes ago and had been waiting for the sound that would set them free for lunch, raced out of the room. Soon Sakura was the only one that remained.

Her teacher had his back turned towards her as he erased the chalkboard with long, languid strokes, and even through the fabric of his cardigan she could see the flex of his muscles.

Sakura fingered the buttons on her white blouse nervously as she approached him, and resisted the urge to tug at her pleated plaid skirt. She knew she looked good today, for many boys had told her already that the short skirt was incredibly sexy, especially when paired with the black thigh high stockings she wore, and she had taken extra care doing her hair and makeup that morning. This was it. It was now or never.

"Mr. Hatake," she said nervously. "I wanted you talk to you about my grades."

He turned to face her, seeming surprised there was still someone in the room, and Sakura was struck again by how handsome he was. He was clean shaven and well groomed, but his hair seemed perpetually unruly, although that only seemed to add to his charm. It was a strange shade of grey that one would expect to see on a man three times his age, and yet it did not look out of place on him.

"Ah yes, Sakura," he smiled, displaying even, white teeth. His warm smile was enough to make the pink haired girl's heart beat just a little faster, and she had to fight down the giddy feeling that threatened to well up and make her do something childish and stupid.

The older man took a seat behind his desk, his smile fading as he regarded her.

"I'm sorry, but even if you study hard and pull A's on the last two tests, it won't be enough to raise your percentage to a passing grade. You simply don't have enough points in the class."

Sakura had expected this answer, but she turned on her acting skills, letting her eyes go wide and clasping her hands dramatically.

"Oh please, there must be something I can do," she exclaimed, her voice growing pitiful and desperate. "I need this class to graduate. I'll be held back a year without it!"

"You can always take the class again over the summer," he explained gently, his rich voice practically making Sakura tingle. "That way you'll still graduate on time."

"I'll be gone all summer," Sakura lied. "Please isn't there anything I can do for you Mr. Hatake? I'll wash you car. I'll even walk your dogs everyday!"

The man behind the desk shook his head sadly.

"I'm sorry Sakura, but there's nothing I can do."

Having exhausted all other options, Sakura knew it was time to try a new tactic, to offer him something far more alluring than her dog walking services.

"But Mr. Hatake," she begged, sweeping her arm in a dramatic gesture and upsetting a can of red pens that he kept for grading papers. They spilled onto the floor at the left side of the desk, but when he made a move to get out of his seat, Sakura stopped him.

"It's my fault," she said. "I'll pick them up."

He watched her silently as she dropped to her hands and knees, trying to ignore how much of her thighs were exposed as she crawled around on the floor. Sakura was the prettiest girl in his class and he had heard how popular she was with the boys. One had only to look at her to see why. Everything about her was long and lithe with curves in all the right places. She had a pretty face and striking eyes that were only enhanced by the unusual but flattering color she chose to dye her hair. If the school had been strict about a dress code, Sakura would find herself not only having to find a new hair color, but dressing a little more modestly.

But when she crawled around so that her rear was facing him, he saw something he couldn't ignore, couldn't tear his eyes away from. That enticing little skirt had ridden up, revealing flashes of fleshy pink that instantly had him hardening inside his pants.

Sakura wasn't wearing any panties.

Dumbfounded, Kakashi could only gape, knowing he should look away, should tell her to stand up, but he continued to stare, watching those sweet pink folds as she gathered up the red pens she had scattered.

And then she looked over her shoulder at him, and Kakashi's heart stopped. She had caught him staring and she was bound to call him a pervert, to scream and report him to the authorities. He waited for her to start shrieking, frozen in his chair, but to his surprise, a smile spread across her lips.

"Mr. Hatake, do you like what you see?"

Everything about her in that moment seemed to change. She was no longer desperate and flustered, but cool, calm, and oh so sexy, and Kakashi suddenly realized that it would have been better if she _had_ screamed and called for help, for the girl before him now was much more dangerous.

"Sakura, I think it's best that you leave now."

Not to be deterred, she began to crawl towards him, drawing on the devil inside herself as she spoke.

"You _do_ like what you see, don't you."

It was a statement, not a question.

"Sakura, you shouldn't—"

"Let's make a deal," she practically purred, now kneeling at his feet. "If I give you what you want, you give me what I want, a good time for a passing grade."

The look in those emerald eyes was predatory, dangerous. It was true that he had caught her looking at him with a dreamy expression on more than one occasion, and that had jumpstarted his own memory about what he could teach this supple young girl besides grammar and literary analysis, but he knew full well that it could not only cost him his job, but land him in prison. At thirty-one, he was a full fourteen years older than the seventeen year old beauty, and though those long legs and what was beneath that short red and black skirt were sure to tempt any man, the fact that his involvement with her would be highly illegal dampened his desire a bit.

His chair was on wheels, and he tried to push himself backwards and away. He needed to put some distance between them before the growing bulge in his pants became the only head he thought with.

Sakura had no intention of letting him slip away, grabbing the leg of his chair and jerking him back towards her with surprising strength. Before he could attempt to escape her with more force, her hand came up to squeeze him through his slacks, finding him already hard and pulsating beneath her fingers. Kakashi let out a soft gasp, body instantly heating as she gave him a hard stroke through his pants.

"Come on," she whispered seductively, her eyes now twin orbs of sultry, green fire. "What do you say? Pass me and I'll give you a blowjob unlike any you've ever had before."

Kakashi's mind was fumbling helplessly for the words to tell her no, that this was wrong. Doing this would put both of them at risk for serious repercussions, although his would be far more serious than hers. But jesus, those lips, that body. He would have to be crazy to turn down a beautiful girl like this. And yet, he'd be equally crazy if he didn't.

Kakashi realized he could not win in this situation, damned if he did and damned if he didn't. He was going to play it safe and chose the purer path when she suddenly grasped the zipper of his fly and tugged it down, letting his impressive cock spring free through the gap in his boxers.

She looked at his length with wide eyes, obviously never seeing one quite so large before, and then she licked her lips like he was the most delicious thing she had ever seen. The act was so sexy that it had Kakashi groaning aloud.

"So, is that a yes Mr. Hatake?" she murmured. "Do we have a deal?"

Her mouth was so close to his manhood that he could feel her warm breath on the tip, making it twitch and ache to be in that perfect mouth. Someone could walk into this classroom at any minute and if that happened, his job, his reputation, all of it would be ruined, but in that moment, having his student wrap her lips around him was far more important.

"Deal," he breathed and Sakura smiled smugly before giving his cock a lick from base to tip, making him shudder.

She pushed his knees open to settle between his legs, still kneeling on the floor as she began to lap at the swollen head of his cock, her tongue dancing over the slit that was already starting to leak glossy beads of precum.

Sakura had plenty of experience when it came to pleasuring boys. She loved the empowering feeling of turning them to putty in her hand, but before her now was the flesh of a _man_, hot and thick and hard. The rush of dominating him was ten times greater than when she was servicing a male her own age.

She gave a pleasured hum as the taste of him spread over her tongue, tangy and pungent. Parting her lips, she took his head into her mouth, suckling just the tip of him softly and smiling around his flesh when he let out a chocked moan.

He could feel her tongue swirling around him, the lithe muscle gliding over his sensitized flesh and making his head spin at the sultry sight before him. Here was pretty little Sakura, sucking him like a porn star. She was looking up at him with those impossibly green eyes, her sweet pink lips pursed around his throbbing manhood. He was unable to look away from the erotic sight, panting like he had just run a mile as her tongue tapped the vulnerable underside of his shaft, and just when he thought her ministrations couldn't feel any better, she slackened her jaw and swallowed him completely, her nose buried in the silvery pubic hair at the base.

"Oh fuck," he hissed, hands gripping the arms of his chair desperately as his head tipped back in ecstasy, eyes sliding closed as the wet heat of her mouth engulfed him. She began to ascend slowly, letting inch after agonizing inch of burning flesh slide free of her mouth until she reached the tip and repeated the process until he was practically squirming in his seat.

She watched his heated reactions and drank in his guttural moans, the sounds making her own sex ache with desire. The pulsing heat at the apex of her thighs caused her to moan as well, the sound muffled slightly by the thick cock in her mouth as she began to bob up and down with increased speed, loving the taste and smell and feel of him.

"Oh yeah," Kakashi groaned in encouragement, prying a hand loose from the death grip on his chair to bury a hand in her silky pink locks. "Suck me just like that."

Sakura could feel his fingers tighten in her hair, guiding her into a fast and steady rhythm that was emphasized by the subtle bucking of his hips, pushing himself into her mouth as his hand pressed her down firmly, but not so hard as to choke her. The way he took charge but still allowed her some control was deliciously sexy and not something she had experienced with the immature boys that attempted to drive their cocks halfway down her throat. Kakashi was responsive, but still considerate, and not at all afraid to moan and tell her what he liked. If this was what it was like being with a real man, she never wanted to go back to fooling around with boys again.

She wrapped the slender fingers of her right hand around his base and began to pump him in time with her bobbing head, making Kakashi gasp as he fixed her with his mismatched gaze. She could feel him twitching inside her mouth and moaned again, the sound vibrating along his sensitive cock. She couldn't look away from him as she continued to suck him enthusiastically, for the sight of his mouth hanging open and eyes glazed with lust was sexier than she could have ever imagined. Even when she fantasized about him in class, she had never pictured him so deliciously disheveled, his sweater hitched up to reveal taunt abs and his slacks slung low on his hips.

Raw pleasure jolted along Kakashi's spine and pooled low in his belly to form a burning ball of pressure in danger of exploding if she continued ravaging his cock with such finesse. Chocolate and ebony eyes widened as she at last let his member slide free of her mouth, a glistening strand of saliva briefly bridging his engorged tip and her now swollen lips before she pulled away and broke the thread. The sight was just too much for the aroused man to take. He had to touch her, had to make her moan, even if that hadn't initially been part of the deal.

The hand in her hair pulled her upwards and she staggered to her feet, stumbling to the desk to catch herself which just happened to put her in quite a compromising position.

Strong hands caressed her thighs and Sakura looked over her shoulder to find herself bent over the desk and her teacher on his knees behind her, the chair abandoned in favor of something he found much more interesting.

"M-Mr. Hatake?" she stammered as his hands smoothed over her rear, pushing up her skirt as he went until her sex was fully revealed. The way he was taking charge was thrilling, but she couldn't help but wonder if she had taken on more than she could handle. The lust in his eyes burned hotly as he gazed at her bared pussy with obvious hunger, and she had the sudden urge to close her legs from their spread position and hide herself from him, but she couldn't seem to move.

"Look at you," he whispered, his voice hoarse and raspy. "You didn't even wear panties today. You must have had this planned from the start."

His eyes shifted to her face, a smirk on his face that proved he seemed to find her actions both amusing and alluring.

"I didn't think you'd go so far just to pass," he chuckled, refocusing on her now slippery folds. "But I'm glad you did."

Before Sakura could reply, he let a hand wander from her toned rear to ghost over her opening, giving a soft groan when her wetness drenched his finger even with the lightest of touches.

She shivered at the touch, but was silent until his single digit pressed to her folds, parting them and sinking easily inside her amazingly tight heat.

She mewled in pleasure as he felt him enter her, the muscles lining her slick canal clamping down on him instantly as he began to pump in and out of her sex with a slow, steady rhythm.

"Jesus, you're drenched," he gasped, his voice full of reverence and arousal. He watched her tight hole with lusty fascination as he filled her over and over, the pink flesh quivering and gripping him every time he tried to pull away. Kakashi hadn't been with a girl under twenty-five in years, and the incredible slickness and heat of her young pussy surpassed that of all other women he had been with.

Her teacher's fingers were long and skilled and Sakura couldn't help but whimper as his digit twisted within her, massaging her inner walls and making her legs tremble. If the desk hadn't been supporting her weight, she surely would have collapsed to the floor.

And then he was gone, leaving her hole empty and aching. Kakashi withdrew his index finger and pressed it to his thumb, watching the iridescent threads of her desire stretch between the two digits. She was more than ready for his cock but he would never have another chance to taste such a delicacy. Bringing his hands to her inner thighs, he let his thumbs spread her outer lips wide until he could see her quivering hole, pulsing as it sought fulfillment. Keeping her stretched, Kakashi leaned forward and thrust his tongue into the place his finger had been only a moment before.

Sakura gave a sharp cry at the sensation of his pliant muscle inside her, rising up on her toes as a thousand tongues of fire licked at her nerve endings. Many a boy had pleasured her with both penis and fingers, but never had one used their mouth, and she found the experience to be both erotic and incredibly pleasurable.

His student's heated moans only encouraged Kakashi further, and he lapped at her furiously, drinking up her sweet and musky taste that was better than any candy. She was shivering uncontrollably now, and his cock was twitching with the consuming need to be inside her. Though he would have liked nothing more than to lay her down and taste every inch of her sweet skin, lunch was only an hour and it was already half over. If he was going to claim her, he needed to do it now.

Pulling away from her swollen pink opening earned him a frustrated whine, but when she felt him rise and strip off his sweater before pressing close behind her, she knew what he meant to do.

She turned to look at him, eyes wide as she watched him take his imposing length in his hand and guide it to her opening.

"Do you want me inside?" he growled, his free hand squeezing her ass and holding her wriggling hips still. He could tell by the look in her eyes that there was nothing his young student wanted more than to be filled by him, but he had to hear her say it, had to hear how desperate she was for him.

"Yes," she moaned. "Oh god _please_."

That was good enough for him.

With his pants still riding low on his waist and Sakura still wearing all that she had dressed in that morning, he entered her from behind, moving slowly so she could grow accustomed to being stretched by his thick manhood.

She let out a ragged moan, back arching as she felt his hardness penetrate her, bringing with it a flood of incredible sensations unlike any she had ever experienced.

"Is that good?" he growled, releasing his cock to press between her shoulder blades until her chest was flat on the desk and she was bent at a right angle from the waist. He knew that it was in this position that he was most likely to find her G-spot and pleasure her to the best of his abilities.

"Yes," she panted, her right cheek pressed against the cool wooden surface of the desk.

As if to emphasize that she wanted more, she pushed back against him, wriggling a bit in an attempt to drive him deeper inside.

Kakashi bit back a groan, taking hold of her hips with both hands and stilling her movements. Although her ministrations felt amazing, he intended to have control of their coupling.

He began to move, thrusting in long, slow strokes, groaning as he felt her body ripple around his length. She was so hot and slick and, above all, _tight_ that he had to make a conscious effort to keep from losing control and pounding into her recklessly. Every forward push of his hips extracted needy whimpers from his student, breathy, beautiful sounds of pleasure that that turned him on almost as much as watching her grip the edge of the desk with shaking fingers.

He savored every time he sunk into her, moving slow and deliberate until she was practically writhing underneath him, trying to push back against him and encourage him to drive into her faster, harder. She was going mad beneath him and he loved it, loved the tiny mewls of frustration she gave as she sought greater fulfillment.

"What's the matter baby?" he chuckled, leaning over her to breathe the words in her ear.

She turned her head over her shoulder, delicate cheekbones flushed crimson and eyes wordlessly pleading him for more.

"Please," she whimpered, the ache inside her almost unbearable as he teased her mercilessly, giving her just a taste of what she needed but not enough. His slow, deep strokes felt so good, but they were maddening in a way she had never known. Her English teacher lacked the overzealous eagerness of boys her age, and so he did not rush, did not hastily seek his own release, but teased and tortured until she was ready to scream. Yet each and every second was glorious.

Kakashi gazed into those lucid emerald pools, caught up in their depths as he leaned in closer and closer until their lips grazed each other, and only when he let his tongue trace her bottom lip did his eyes drift closed. Her lips parted for him and he took advantage, exploring her mouth with his tongue and tasting the sweetness that was Sakura and the bitter tang that was his own residual flavor.

She moaned into his mouth, a lusty and heated sound and at last Kakashi crumbled, unable to keep moving so slow and controlled. He broke the kiss and gripped her hips tighter as he quickened the pace of his thrusting hips, driving deep into her every time.

Sakura let out a sob as she felt him plunge into her with renewed fervor, still looking over her shoulder at him, her mouth agape in a silent scream. His jaw was clenched, further defining its masculine angle as he pounded into her, eyes fixed on hers so as to watch her every reaction as he took them both to new heights of pleasure.

She could feel her sex squeezing him, contracting around him as he moved. The tightening of her muscles was amazing enough, but when he shifted slightly to hammer at the tender spot below her navel from the inside, fire suddenly burned in her veins, the sensations radiating throughout her entire body until even her fingertips tingled with pleasure.

Every time his cock hit that wonderful place, a moan tumbled from her lips, the sounds growing increasingly louder as she lost herself in him, aware of nothing but his body inside hers. Afraid her sounds would alert someone in the halls, Kakashi clamped a hand over her mouth, muffling her moans as he smirked against her ear, pleased that he could drive her to distraction.

"Shh Sakura, some one will hear."

He was just as breathless as she was but his voice had dropped several octaves from the pitch he used to lecture, and had grown raspy with lust. Even when he spoke, he didn't slow down his thrusting hips at all and Sakura's vision was starting to tunnel as pleasure blurred her senses.

She had become so wet that every movement inside her was accompanied by a vulgar squelshing sound, but Sakura couldn't be bothered with embarrassment at the moment. His hand clamped over her mouth combined with the way he kept her hips firmly pressed against the desk proved he had complete mastery over her body, and the way he was hammering mercilessly at the secret spot within had her seeing stars. She could feel herself racing towards orgasm at top speed and was mere steps from falling into the abyss when he was pulling away, slipping out of her and leaving her so empty and unfulfilled she thought she would go mad.

When her teacher's hand released her mouth, she looked over her shoulder at him, wiggling her hips impatiently as her pussy throbbed painfully in its neglected state.

"Mr. Hatake, why did you stop? I—"

Before she could finish the sentence, he spun her around, effortlessly lifting her small frame onto the desk, pushing her backwards until she was lying down with her pelvis at the very edge of the wood. A stack of papers he had yet to grade scattered over the floor but neither paid them mind, far too wrapped up in each other to notice.

"Call me Kakashi," he demanded, tired of her formal title for him as he stood between her legs and grabbed a toned thigh in each hand.

He leaned forward, pressing his hardness against her opening and Sakura moaned at the pressure. Just a slight thrust of his hips would put him inside her, but he did nothing more than rub teasingly over her outer lips.

"Mmm…K-Kakashi," she whispered, arching up against him as she let his first name roll off her tongue.

"Again," he growled, loving how wanton she sounded as he made sure to grind his cock against her swollen clit, making her shudder.

"Kakashi! Please, put it inside Kakashi!"

She was chanting his name like a mantra, squirming and panting and begging for him, and his eyes traveled the length of her body, noting how her little red skirt was bunched up around her waist, leaving her pink pussy brilliantly exposed. She was so sexy, so wild, he wondered how the inexperienced men she had been with could handle her. She was a devil with a pretty face, a sultry temptress driving him to sin.

With a growl, he slipped back inside her, toes curling within his shoes as she surrounded him with her liquid paradise.

He picked of the pace he had left off with, immediately moving hard and fast within her. The girl spread before him seemed every bit as enthusiastic as he was, moaning and panting as her hands clawed at the dark wood beneath them.

His hard thrusts jarred her body hard enough to make her breasts bounce beneath the material of both her shirt and bra, and Kakashi was not content with merely wondering what the supple flesh looked like underneath her clothes.

Leaning over her supine form, his fingers fumbled at the buttons of her white blouse. He stilled his hips only momentarily to release her thighs and bring both hands to assist in popping open the buttons until her shirt parted, revealing a flat, toned stomach, pale skin, and sweet, round breasts contained in a lacy black bra. The sight of her on her back and exposed to him was so arousing that it made his cock throb hard inside her. Sakura must have felt it, for her eyes widened as she let out a gasp, her feet now resting on the edge of the desk.

"So sexy," he murmured, letting his hands cup the soft globes through her bra and squeezing gently to make her whimper. He could feel the hardened points of her nipples brush against his palms even through the material separating skin from skin, and he found himself imagining all the glorious things he could do to such a young, sensitive body if he had her alone for a night.

His hands slid to the underside of her breasts and tugged the lacy cups upward until her flesh was revealed. They weren't the largest he'd seen but almost perfectly round, wonderfully shaped and capped with rosy pink nipples which were currently fully distended.

His gaze on her was so hated that Sakura felt her body warm in response. Her blood ran hot in her veins and her sex burned to the point of unbearable. She could still feel his hard length inside her, stretching her, but not moving. She could no longer take it.

She wrapped her long legs around him, crossing her ankles behind his back as she began to grind up against him, urging him to continue moving as he had before. Her ministrations were rewarded with a masculine groan as he shifted his eyes from her breasts to her face. She smiled up at him, the devil inside her shining through as everything about her expression turned sultry, seductive and lustful.

Kakashi was a slave to his own body now, no longer able to hold back. He began to slam into her with no restraint, rattling the desk with every thrust and forcing sobs of bliss from his lover's mouth. She was far too loud, and if anyone were in the hall they would surely come to investigate the source of the noise. All he could hope for was that no teachers or students on this floor had chosen to stay in their classrooms for lunch, for although he heard Sakura's mewls and cries, he couldn't bring himself to release his grip on her hips to cover her mouth or to pound in and out of her a little gentler. The sex between them had turned raw, animalistic until it was no longer mere sex but harsh fucking. Her fingernails scratched grooves into the table and his fingers dug into her thighs, leaving bruises he could only hope her skirt would cover. He could not believe a girl in her junior year of high school could be this sexy, this enticing, this addictive, and he still couldn't quite come to terms with the fact he had been stupid enough to let her talk him into using her pussy in return for a passing grade. And yet, her liquid tightness around him, her shapely legs around his waist, her breathless voice calling his name over and over, were more than enough to convince him that taking her up on her offer was well worth it.

Somewhere in the back of Sakura's mind, she knew she could quiet down, but couldn't seem to organize her brain well enough to send the command to her vocal cords, not when his cock was filling her to the brim, not when it was slamming into her almost violently, sending wave after wave of scalding pleasure coursing through her. Just as she had hoped, this older man knew exactly how to handle a woman's body, and she found herself once again at the precipice, on the verge of an orgasm greater than any she had ever had.

"Kakashi," she moaned senselessly, her legs squeezing his waist almost as tight as her pussy held his cock. "Oh god Kakashi, don't stop! I'm gonna…"

Her teacher had no intention of stopping, and her words just drove him on, feeling his own release approaching as the slick walls of her sex constricted tighter and tighter around his length, a hungry snake trying to swallow him down.

Suddenly, she was silent, arching clear off the desk, her mouth falling open as her orgasm rocked her body so intensely that she couldn't even make a sound. Her body was shivering, convulsing, her eyes squeezed tightly shut as her expression bordered on that of pain. The blinding pleasure didn't just center in her core, but stabbed throughout her entire body, making colorful stars explode across her vision like a fireworks display.

"Fuuuuck," Kakashi groaned, half in awe of her beauty as she came, and half at the excruciatingly pleasurable sensation of her pussy clamping around him so tight that it triggered his own release. He watched her, filling up her silence with his own sounds of ecstasy until he had to shut his eyes against the sensations, pumping his seed into her with the last few thrusts of his hips. Her pussy seemed to suck him as hard as any mouth, like it had been craving his essence and wanted every last drop.

At last, he collapsed atop her, weary and spent, rivulets of sweat running down his chest and back. After a moment, she stopped shuddering, her sex relinquishing its iron grip on his length as her muscles relaxed. For a moment there was complete silence save for their sated panting, chests rising and falling rapidly. When Kakashi could muster the strength, he pushed himself back to standing, looking down at their joined bodies and realized what he had just done.

"Sakura," he whispered, his heart racing now for a different reason when he saw that he hadn't even given a thought to protection. "I…I came inside you. I'm sorry, I didn't even think about—"

His pink haired student gave a tired, though thoroughly satisfied giggle.

"It's ok. I've been on the pill for almost a year now."

Heaving a sigh of relief, Kakashi waited for her to unhook her legs from around him before withdrawing. To his surprise, Sakura sat up and perched her feet on the desks edge so that she was spread wide, allowing him to see her hole that was now red and stretched open…and leaking the milky white fluid he had injected her with.

Before the creamy liquid could drip onto the table, she ran a finger over her labia, collecting as much as she could and brought it to her lips, sucking the digit clean as if it were covered in a substance more delicious than chocolate. Her appreciative hum at the taste and coy smile were straight out of the erotic novels he read, and even though he had just finished screwing her senseless, something stirred in his loins at the sight of her licking up his sperm like it was a gourmet treat.

Seeing he liked what she was doing, she repeated the process, hazy emerald eyes never straying from his bicolored orbs.

Kakashi's breath caught in his chest. She was a demon, a devil, sin embodied as she sat there, swollen pussy spread wide, cloths disheveled and pushed aside to reveal the most glorious parts. He suddenly knew that he would not be able to stop himself here, that one taste of her was not enough, and he would make a thousand more reckless decisions to dip his fingers inside her honey pot once again.

"Was it good?" she purred, looking so content that he already knew her answer to the same question.

"Very good Sakura," he replied, running fingers through sweaty silver strands that had become messier than usual.

She smiled smugly and hopped off the table, hitching her skirt back down and tugging her bra into place so she could button up her shirt. After combing her fingers through her hair, nobody ever would have been able to guess that five minutes ago she had been laid out on his desk with his cock balls-deep inside her.

She still wore no underwear, and Kakashi wondered if his essence was still oozing from her slit, if she would be sitting in her next class with his come coating her inner thighs.

"Well," Sakura said, her smile suddenly fading as the moment began to grow awkward. "I guess we're done here."

They regarded each other for a moment, the silence stretching longer and longer between them even though they both seemed to have something more they wanted to say.

The bell rang, smashing the quiet and making them both jump a little. With a nervous giggle, Sakura went to collect her books where she had left them at her desk, and Kakashi watched her bend over to pick them up, marveling that he had just been allowed to taste such a youthful, exquisite, devilish beauty.

She turned to go, but Kakashi stopped her, finally vocalizing what was on his mind.

"Sakura."

She paused, looking over her shoulder at him.

"I'll give you a C because of today and you'll pass the class. However, if you stay after class tomorrow, I'll make sure you pass with an A."

Her expression was initially one of shock, but then it faded into an impish smile that betrayed her devilish nature beneath that candy-coated exterior.

"Then I'll see you tomorrow, same time, same place."

Kakashi nodded with a similar knowing smile as she headed towards the door.

"Oh, Mr. Hatake?" she said, turning one more. "You might want to put your shirt back on."

Kakashi suddenly realized he had yet to redress and though his cock was back in his pants, his fly was still unzipped. He frantically turned his sweater right side out and pulled it over his head before the first of his fifth period students could catch him half naked.

When he had dressed, he found that he was alone in the classroom. Sakura was gone.

A smile curved on his lips as he began to imagine the possibilities for their time together tomorrow. He had a feeling that even after tomorrow, she return to him, for he was starting to think this was about more than just her grades. Morals and rules be damned, he would take her as many times as she allowed, even if it cost him everything. Though Kakashi was a good man, Sakura had found one of his vices and had exploited it mercilessly.

He was simply too easily tempted by the devil.

XXXXX

Written for the naruto_choice weekly contest over at livejournal. Participation is down so please go write drabbles for it or at least vote!


	31. Kakashi Hatake :KakashiSakumo:

I have been suffering sever writer's apathy lately and have not been in the mood to work on Stripped Bare at all. If trying to jump start my creativity and I'm hoping that writing a drabble for LJ's weekly Naruto Contest will help.

In the Firelight

Sakumo looked at his son, the boy who had grown into a man in his absence. He still wore the mask that covered most of his face, but Sakumo could still see the toll the shinobi lifestyle had taken on him. He was almost thirty, and yet the depths of his dark eye held the lackluster glint of someone far older, someone who had seen terrible things, just as Sakumo had before ending his own life.

Kakashi had been his greatest regret.

It wasn't that he resented having a child. He loved his son more than he could ever convey, but Konoha's White Fang died knowing Kakashi had hated him for what he had done, despised him because the boy could not understand that rules, though important, sometimes had to be broken in order to save those you cared about.

And yet, Kakashi's lips curved into a slight smile beneath his mask as they sat together in silence, firelight sending dancing shadows across his features. Sakumo could hardly believe his own ears when his son spoke softly.

"I'm proud of you now."

Kakashi had learned what his father had longed for him to understand, but could not teach, could not explain. His son, seasoned by the painful losses of his own comrades now understood that the world was not painted in stark shades of black and white, but in gray that had to be discerned. Rules would be broken, people betrayed, but in turn, others that might have died would be saved.

The heaviness of despair and regret seemed to evaporate, leaving Sakumo cleansed as the person he cherished most stared into the fire, saying the words he had needed to hear so badly, but never thought would ever fall from his lips.

At last, Sakumo had his son's forgiveness.


	32. Last Line :SakuraSaiNaruto:

Written for the naruto_contest com at lj since they are doing something cool this week. The last line of the previous entry must be the first line of the next.

* * *

The Things We Do For Friendship

"Don't worry, I'm scared too," Sai whispered so Sakura wouldn't overhear. Although they had volunteered to taste Sakura's cooking, they hadn't realized just how lacking she was in the domesticated skills department.

Sai's response wasn't the most reassuring thing Naruto could have heard as he stared at the mysterious burnt substance on his plate. He swallowed nervously and picked up his chopsticks.

"Enjoy," Sakura beamed, looking adorable in the cooking apron she had tied over her normal shinobi attire, but Naruto and Sai both knew that smile could be replaced by a fist hurtling at their faces if they did anything to offend her.

Together, the boys dipped their chopsticks into the burnt mass and broke off a piece, finding it to be astonishingly orange inside. Perhaps the substance had been sweet potatoes at one time before Sakura got a hold of them.

Shutting his eyes, Naruto raised his chopsticks to his lips. Although his brain warned him that if he knew what was good for him, he would put down the chopsticks and walk away, his adoration for Sakura spurred him on and he opened his mouth and placed the products of her cooking endeavor inside.

To say it was bad would have been an understatement, and Naruto struggled to fight his gag reflex as he swallowed. Beside him, Sai did the same, although years of cultivating his poker face in ROOT proved advantageous.

"So, how is it?" Sakura asked hopefully, oblivious to their pain.

"Wonderful," Sai managed, giving her his patented smile. Naruto could only nod in agreement, hoping he wasn't turning green because he suddenly felt quite ill.

"Great!" she exclaimed, heaping even more of the horrible stuff onto their plates.

Naruto inwardly groaned.

All of this had to be good for at least _one_ date, right?


End file.
